Workplace bias against gay and transgender employees had remained legal in much of the country, with 28 U.S. states lacking comprehensive measures against employment discrimination. Trump’s administration joined the employers in arguing that Congress did not intend for Title VII to protect gay and transgender people when it passed the law. “I’m proud to have taken part in this process in getting us to this historic moment,” Bostock added. “I truly believe I went into shock this morning,” said Gerald Bostock, who brought the Georgia case after losing his job as a county government child welfare services coordinator months after joining the local gay-friendly Hotlanta Softball League. Two conservative justices joined the court’s four liberals in the decision: Neil Gorsuch, a 2017 Trump appointee who wrote the ruling, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
The ruling does not resolve other legal issues on LGBT rights including whether separate federal laws that bar sex discrimination should also be interpreted as covering sexual orientation and gender identity. The landmark 6-3 ruling represented the biggest moment for LGBT rights in the United States since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.
His administration also has backed the right of certain businesses to refuse to serve gay people on the basis of religious objections, banned most transgender service members from the military and rescinded protections on bathroom access for transgender students in public schools. “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” Gorsuch wrote.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump called the ruling very powerful and said, “They’ve ruled and we live with their decision.” Supported by evangelical Christian voters, Trump has taken actions that have undermined gay and transgender rights since taking office in 2017. The legal fight focused on the definition of “sex” in Title VII. The Supreme Court today blocked House Democrats from accessing Trump's financial records, but ruled that the President is not immune from a … Aimee Stephens, fired by a Detroit funeral home after revealing plans to transition from male to female, died in May. The ruling - in two gay rights cases from Georgia and New York and a transgender rights case from Michigan - recognizes new worker protections in federal law. Find the latest national news stories, photos, and videos on the Supreme Court on NBCNews.com. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from Monday’s ruling. LGBT activists and the only surviving plaintiff in the litigation lauded the ruling. “Americans must be able to rely on what the law says, and it is disappointing that a majority of the justices were unwilling to affirm that commonsense principle,” said John Bursch, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group that represented the employer in the Michigan case. Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign gay rights group, said, “No one should be denied a job or fired simply because of who they are or whom they love.” “By discriminating against homosexuals,” Gorsuch wrote, “the employer intentionally penalizes men for being attracted to men and women for being attracted to women.
The court agreed with the plaintiffs that discriminating against gay and transgender workers was inherently based on their sex and consequently was illegal. The court faces another test in its next term, which starts in October, in a case pitting LGBT rights against religious rights involving Philadelphia’s decision to bar a Catholic organization from participating in the city’s foster care program because the group will not place children with same-sex couples.
By discriminating against transgender persons, the employer unavoidably discriminates against persons with one sex identified at birth and another today.” Trump’s administration last week issued a rule lifting anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in healthcare. Two other plaintiffs did not live to see the ruling. Read headlines on breaking news stories, decisions, justices, important cases, and more. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered a watershed victory for LGBT rights and a defeat for President Donald Trump’s administration by ruling that a longstanding federal law barring workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered a watershed victory for LGBT rights and a defeat for President Donald Trump's administration by ruling that …
REUTERS/Tom Brenner
The justices decided that gay and transgender people are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin and religion.