Supreme Court Rules that Title VII Protects Gay Rights

The Supreme Court ruling decides three cases, ultimately finding that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people with its language barring sex discrimination. Justice Neal Gorsuch, nominated by President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion for the typically conservative court. 

The Supreme Court has issued several landmark opinions about gay rights in the last several years, including the Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. The court’s opinions in those cases were written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. This is the first ruling by the Court on a gay rights issue since Justice Kennedy retired.

“The answer is clear,” Gorsuch wrote. “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. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

Previously, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender plaintiffs have sued for violations of their rights under Title VII, claiming that discrimination based on sexuality is akin to sex discrimination. Federal appeals courts throughout the nation differed in their rulings on the topic. The Supreme Court’s decision now requires federal courts to apply the law to protect gay rights in every state.

The ruling focuses on three separate individuals who were each fired by separate employers, after being employed for many years. The employees said that they were fired shortly after their employers learned that they were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. 

Gerald Bostock worked as a child welfare advocate for Clayton County, Georgia. He was an exemplary employee. But when he became involved in a gay recreational softball team and was the subject of some disparaging comments in the Clayton County community, Bostock was terminated for “unbecoming” conduct. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Clayton County did not violate Bostock’s civil rights. 

Donald Zarda worked as a skydiving instructor for Altitude Express in New York. He was fired days after his employer learned he is gay. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Zarda’s employer violated his civil rights. 

Aimee Stephens was employed by R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Homes in Garden City, Michigan. After working for the company for six years, she informed her employer that she would no longer present herself as male, and rather present herself as female at work and home. She was terminated shortly thereafter, with her employer stating “this isn’t going to work out.” The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the funeral home violated Stephens’ civil rights. 

“Ours is a society of written laws,” Gorsuch wrote. “Judges are not free to overlook plain statutory commands on the strength of nothing more than suppositions about intentions or guesswork about expectations. In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.”

The ruling is expected to have a wide-ranging impact in imparting more rights to gay, lesbian, and transgender employees. 

If you have any questions about this article or gay rights in general, contact the author, attorney Kristina Buchthal Alkass, at kalkass@lavellelaw.com or 847-705-7555.