At least 48 GOP members of Congress argue that employers should be legally allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ employees.

At least 48 Republican members of Congress have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that LGBTQ people should not be considered a protected class when facing discrimination from employers.

Among the congressmen is U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Gainesville, who represents Marion and Alachua counties. He is the only Florida representative on the list.

Others on the list include Sens. Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn and Kevin Cramer, along with Reps. Jeff Duncan, Jody Rice, Ralph Norman and Gary Palmer.

The 41-page document, in connection with three ongoing Supreme Court cases, dives into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. GOP officials say the law doesn’t expressly include sexual orientation or gender identity and that it was not “intended to protect them.”

“Although the inclusion of 'sex' as a protected category under Title VII was not the focus when the statute was enacted, the legislative history clearly establishes that Congress acted to protect women’s rights,” the letter states. “The legislature has the ability to modify Title VII. If Congress intended to include sexual orientation and gender identity among the protected classes in Title VII, it could have done so.”

The letter goes on to say that a bill should run the “gauntlet of bicameralism and presentment” before those classes of people are protected, while noting dozens of previously failed attempts. Texas attorney Kenneth Starr and South Carolina attorney Timothy Newton are representing the 48 GOP officials.

Kat Cammack, Yoho’s deputy chief of staff, said the congressman was busy preparing for Hurricane Dorian and was unavailable to comment on the issue Wednesday.

Terry Fleming, a local LGBTQ activist, said he isn’t surprised by Yoho’s decision. But he said it is particularly disappointing considering Alachua County’s large LGBTQ+ activist community.

“(Yoho) has consistently failed to live up to his constitutional duty to fairly represent the constituents of his district,” he said.

The brief was the second of its kind to challenge the civil rights act’s protection of gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexual employees.

Last week, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice filed a 43-page brief that argued that it's legal to discriminate against gay men and lesbians equally, but that employers can't pick and choose.

"[I]f an employer treats gay men and women the same, it has not engaged in sex discrimination,” the department wrote.

Sandy Parker, a volunteer with Indivisible Gainesville, a local activist organization, said the briefs show how GOP officials make decision based on their moral judgments rather than what laws say.

“It just, to me, is another sign where Ted Yoho and these sort of these constitutional conservatives are interested in corporate entities and not individual liberties,” Parker said.