The Supreme Court announced today it will hear three cases challenging protections against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in employment.
The cases will test the reach of both sexual orientation and gender identity protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex. Boston-based GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) has worked hard to develop and advance winning legal arguments that recognize sexual orientation and gender ID as both covered under the term “sex” in this landmark legislation.
GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director Mary L. Bonauto issued the following statement today:
The cases that were granted cert today could determine if vital federal workplace protections are affirmed, or are stripped away from millions of LGBTQ people across the country.
More and more courts as well as thousands of businesses nationally have agreed on the common-sense connection between sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination and sex discrimination. Now the Supreme Court has the chance to clarify this common-sense interpretation explicitly and definitively.
No one should be at risk of being fired simply because of who they are or who they love. Discrimination in the workplace contributes to higher rates of unemployment and poverty among LGBTQ people, particularly LGBTQ people of color. Nondiscrimination protections are essential to addressing this inequity.
As we continue to work for explicit, comprehensive nondiscrimination statutes protecting LGBTQ people in every area of life, we hope the Supreme Court will take this opportunity to affirm that discrimination against workers because of their identity violates Title VII, is un-American and is simply wrong.
The three cases SCOTUS will hear are Altitude Express v. Zarda, Bostock v. Clay County, Georgia and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens.
