The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday in a three cases that will determine employment protections for millions of LGBTQ workers, and whether these Americans have the right to their own identities in the workplace. The court, now including Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, could allow employers to fire workers based solely on their gender identity or sexual orientation.

The cases are Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda; Bostock v. Clayton County; and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. EEOC. Aimee Stephens is a transgender woman who was fired from her job at Harris Funeral Homes because of her identity. The other two cases were brought by gay men who say they were fired based on their sexual orientation. The cases go beyond just employment, however, as the precedent of employment discrimination being allowed could affect housing, health care, and education. While there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, those protections are contained in the laws in some states. Twenty-two states protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and 21 also protect on the basis of gender identity.

These protections have been extended nationally, though, through the prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the precedent set in 1989 by the Supreme Court's decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. The court found in that case that employers can't discriminate on the basis of sex stereotypes—what's traditionally masculine or feminine. Lower courts have used that decision to find that discrimination against LGBTQ people is discrimination based on those stereotypes. The Trump Department of Justice is arguing before the court that these sex stereotypes should be allowed to determine employment, just as long as they are applied to both men and women—equal opportunity discrimination, in essence.

Initial reports from Bloomberg's Supreme Court reporter, Greg Stohr, are at best not dire, if not fully encouraging. He reports that Gorsuch said that "when a person is fired because of sexual orientation, that person's sex is at least a 'contributing cause,'" which is acknowledgement of Title VII's prohibition of discrimination based on sex. SCOTUS comments in arguments aren't necessarily indicative of decisions, but that's a glimmer of hope.