(WWJ/AP) The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected from workplace bias under federal law.
SCOTUS observers are calling Monday's ruling a landmark decision, as justices decide that employers cannot fire someone just because they are homosexual or transgender.
The court ruled by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title VII, that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LBGTQ people.
Antonio Garcia, CEO of the Affirmations LGBT community center in Ferndale, called it a "major victory," telling WWJ's Vickie Thomas that because of a conservative majority in the court, he thought they would lose this case.
The ruling is expected to have a big impact for the estimated 8.1 million LGBT workers across the country because most states, including Michigan, don't protect them from workplace discrimination.
Sadly, metro Detroiter Aimee Stephens did not live to see the ruling she helped to make possible through her case.
Stephens, formerly Anthony Stephens, was let go from the Garden City location of Harris Funeral Homes in 2013 after revealing to the owners that he was transitioning to become a woman and planned to wear women's clothing on the job.
Attorneys for the funeral home said Stephens violated the company's sex-specific dress code and that employees are simply asked to dress "in a manner sensitive to grieving family members and friends," arguing that Title VII did not protect against discrimination based on transgender status.
Stephens, 59, died in May of complications of kidney failure, according to he American Civil Liberties Union.
The opinion was written by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. READ IT HERE.
"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," Gorsuch wrote for the court. "Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids."
Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas dissented.
"The Court tries to convince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous," Alito wrote in the dissent. "Even as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of 'sex' is different from discrimination because of 'sexual orientation' or 'gender identity.'"
Kavanaugh wrote in a separate dissent that the court was rewriting the law to include gender identity and sexual orientation, a job that belongs to Congress. Still, Kavanaugh said the decision represents an "important victory achieved today by gay and lesbian Americans."
Among those praising the court's ruling is Equality Michigan's Executive Director, Erin Knott who said, however, there is a lot of work yet to be done.
"Our nation has much to do to dismantle both legal and cultural systems of racism. Additionally, there are still critical gaps in our federal non-discrimination laws and the laws of Michigan for LGBTQ people, despite this ruling. While LGBTQ people now have legal protection from discrimination at work, we still have a long way to go," said Knott, in a statement.
Knott pointed out that even after today's decision, it will still be legal under federal law:
- For stores, restaurants and hotels to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
- For federally funded programs, including hospitals, colleges, and adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
- To discriminate against transgender people in restrooms.
"Not only that: In the middle of our current health crisis, it's scary to think that people could be denied the medical care they need when they need it. LGBTQ Americans live with this fear even in the best of times, and that's why we need to make sure no American faces discrimination or is denied services simply because of who they are. We need Congress and the Michigan Legislature to fully protect LGBTQ people from discrimination and pass full federal and Michigan non-discrimination protections — and for the business community to play a leading role in advocating for these legal protections. But that's just part of what is needed to achieve true equality," Knott added.
"Even with today's decision, Black LGBTQ people will still face disproportionate discrimination across their lives. Until our laws remedy systemic racism and inequality, and our culture catches up to those laws, our movement's pursuit of LGBTQ equality is far from done. "
