Today the United States Supreme Court held that a person may not be fired based on their sexual orientation. The Court held that LGBTQ employees are protected from discrimination based on Title VII.
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As a summary, the Court held that part of sex discrimination includes sexual orientation. The Court was not persuaded by the argument that the employees were heard saying that they were not fired because of sex but rather because they were gay. The employers further tried to assert that Congress did not specifically address homosexuality or transgender and therefore should not be included. The Court, however, stated that when a specific item is not addressed the Court applies the broad rule.
Perhaps my favorite quote is, “So an employer who fires a woman, Hannah, be- cause she is insufficiently feminine and also fires a man, Bob, for being insufficiently masculine may treat men and women as groups more or less equally. But in both cases the employer fires an individual in part because of sex. In- stead of avoiding Title VII exposure, this employer doubles it.”
Followed up by this one, “An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s be- cause it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.”