Supreme Court Finds Firing Employees for Being Gay or Transgender Illegal
In a dramatic departure from the legal status quo, the Supreme Court ruled 6 3 on June 15 that employees can t be fired from their jobs because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The ruling is a defeat for the Trump administration. During oral arguments last fall, Solicitor General Noel Francisco said, Sex means whether you re male or female, not whether you re gay or straight.
A reported 21 states already had laws on the books prohibiting such discrimination.
The landmark ruling that brings an expanded meaning to the phrase on the basis of sex that appear in the nondiscrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is the court s latest foray into the culturally contentious realm of sex and sex roles. In 2015, the court gave same-sex couples the right to marry in the 5 4 decision of Obergefell v. Hodges.