Chapter 5: LGBTQ Discrimination in the Workplace
In 2020, the Supreme Court found that discrimination against LGBTQ workers was illegal, citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark decision offered previously unavailable protections to those who had been fired or discriminated against within the workplace for their gender identity or sexual orientation. “It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating…based on sex,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the majority opinion.
The decision came at a point when more than half of the states failed to offer such protections. Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is now outlawed in the workplace, following years of activism by LGBTQ groups to reach such a decision. Many legal analysts hailed the decision as a game-changer, noting that it sets precedents for protections of LGBTQ individuals in other areas as well.
The decision noted that while those in Congress who passed the law in 1964 did not expressly say it covered the rights of gay or transgender individuals, the intent of the law extended to other groups that might face discrimination. The decision made it clear that the act, which barred discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, was meant to protect those facing discrimination for their sex, such as a transgender woman who was fired after coming out at her workplace.
The Trump administration had sided with the employers in the three cases the Supreme Court considered in its ruling. The majority opinion noted that while LGBTQ rights were not a focus of the law in 1964, subsequent legal decisions have expanded the law to include more expansive protections. “The limits of the drafters’ imagination supply no reason to ignore the law’s demands,” wrote Gorsuch. Among the dissenting opinions, the justices said that the matter should be left to states or decided by Congress.
