Supreme Court rules Title VII grants LGBTQ protection for all

On June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, and established LGBTQ rights in the workplace as a matter of federal law. The Court squarely held Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes a prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment.

Based on ‘sex’

The majority opinion in the 6-3 decision was authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch and focused heavily on the plain language of Title VII. He wrote:

Sometimes small gestures can have unexpected consequences. Major initiatives practically guarantee them. In our time, few pieces of federal legislation rank in significance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There, in Title VII, Congress outlawed discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear. 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.