On Monday, the Supreme Court sanctioned a civil rights law to protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment. It is a vibrant victory for LGBT rights from a prudent court.
The decision was taken by the court by 6-3 vote. The key provision of the Civil rights act of 1964 i.e Title VII, bats job discrimination because of sex . As it incorporates an intolerance against LGBT workers.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court as quoted
“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 different sex. Sex plays a necessary and distinguishable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,”
Alito wrote in a disagreement that was joined by Thomas, as quoted
“The Court tries to convince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous. Even as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of ‘sex’ is different from discrimination because of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity,'”.
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA law school, there are approximately 11.3 million LGBT people living in the US. The result of this will surely have a big impact on the 8.1 estimated workers all over the country as only a few states protect the LGBT from workplace discrimination.