Supreme Court Says Gay and Transgender Workers Are Protected by Civil Rights Law



MotherJones - In a monumental victory in the fight for LBGTQ equality, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—which bars employment discrimination on the basis of sex—protects gay and transgender Americans. The lopsided 6–3 decision was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was President Trump’s first appointee to the court. Gorsuch was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, and by the court’s four liberal justices.

“Judges are not free to overlook plain statutory commands on the strength of nothing more than suppositions about intentions or guesswork about expectations,” wrote Gorsuch. “In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.”