How Trump Administration’s Supreme Court Appeal Could Harm LGBTQ Workers
This month, the Trump administration opposed the protection of LGBT workers in the United States, arguing that existing laws should not cover discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Their reasoning? The law, passed in 1964, did not explicitly include any criteria, and if Congress wanted to amend the law, it would have done so already.
But what is this law? And how will this affect similar cases of discrimination in the future?
What exactly did the Trump administration claim?
On Friday, the Trump administration submitted two separate memos arguing that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not protect against discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation. Earlier this month, the administration also submitted a memo opposing the protection of individuals discriminated against on the basis of gender identity, which affects transgender rights.
The briefs were submitted to the Supreme Court and specifically referred to three ongoing work discrimination cases filed by three LGBTQ representatives. (Two cases dealt with sexual orientation and one with gender discrimination.)
For context, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — a landmark ordinance — details “ illegal recruitment practices, ” which includes protection from discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”.
Given the year in which it was passed, the law has never directly addressed the protection of LGBTQ workers. There is currently no federal law protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in any capacity, including at work, although cities or states can enact local laws to prevent such discrimination. However, there have been attempts … The Equality Act was drafted to amend the original Civil Rights Act and passed by the House of Representatives, although it was never voted on in the Senate.
As we wrote earlier , to get around this, advocates argued that Title VII already protects LGBT workers because it amounts to gender discrimination; You cannot fire a woman for being attracted to women if, for example, a man is also attracted to women, but he still retains his job.
However, the Trump administration does not think so. “[At the time Congress passed Title VII, ‘gender’, ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ had different meanings,” one of the memo reads. As a result, the word ‘gender’ in Title VII cannot be fairly interpreted to mean or include ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’.
Why is it important?
As Snopes put it , if the court agrees with the Trump administration, it could tie the lower courts to a similar ruling, effectively making it legal to fire employees solely on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The only way to change this is probably for Congress to pass a measure that explicitly added sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws as a separate protected trait alongside gender, race, religion, and so on, ” Snopes said. – writes Dan McGuill. Likewise, Congress will also have to pass a measure that explicitly adds gender identity.
In addition, it is very likely that this will make it difficult, if not impossible, to deal with other cases of discrimination.
“Such a decision would be a disaster, relegating LGBTQ people across the country to second-class citizenship status,” said James Essex, director of the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project, in a statement regarding two cases. “The LGBTQ community has fought too long and too hard to go back, and we expect the judges to not reverse this hard-won progress.”
What happens next?
On October 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in three cases of discrimination against LGBT workers.
While little has happened until then, 150 members of Congress also filed their own support for LGBT workers in July.
“Fifty-five years after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, it has become a pillar of justice in our democracy, helping us fulfill our founding promise that all are created equal,” Nancy Pelosi said in a relatively short statement. “As Republicans and the Trump administration push the hated anti-LGBT agenda and fight against our movement towards progress, we will make it clear in the courts and Congress that freedom, justice and equality are America’s guiding principles, not bigotry or discrimination.”