Many would say that discrimination has no place in America. And while the political culture of beleaguering anti-discrimination laws demonstrate otherwise — such as the scandalous rollback on healthcare rights for transgender patients — laws are being implemented simultaneously to counterattack such proceedings.
The Court’s recent decision to advance LGBT rights in the workforce leads back to 1964, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was passed in the Supreme Court prohibiting workplaces from discriminating against people on the basis of race and sex. More than 50 years later, after years of cases, complaints, and advocacy, this law expanded to include gay and transgender citizens as well.
The Civil Rights Act was brought up several years ago around 2014 when three U.S. citizens— Aimee Stephens, Donald Zarda, and Gerald Bostock —were fired from their work due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. They were left with no health insurance, no money, and nowhere to go.
Now, in 2020, only one of them is alive to see they have won the years-long battle.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that workplaces cannot discriminate against the LGBT community, a battle where seemingly nobody won. Bostock was left without healthcare when he needed it the most— suffering from prostate cancer all alone was a difficult battle.
“The long, seven-year journey I’ve had, it’s well worth every ache and pain. I didn’t ask for this, but it needed to be done,” says Bostock after the huge win for him and one of the ones who passed away. “That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I would not change anything.”
Even though the Supreme Court had become more conservative in recent years, the win for the LGBT community was a huge success for many. The Supreme Court also ruled against extending Second Amendment rights and rejected Trump’s proposition to review California’s attempts at protecting undocumented citizens. Even though there is a conservative majority, human rights still shone through.
“We must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear,” Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court wrote in a public statement. “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.”
Employees in the LGBT community may have greater protection under the law now more than any other time in history, but the notion continues to be challenged by parochial lawmakers and some opposing populations.
After many long years of fighting with this ruling in 2020, where equal rights are being questioned and protests fill the streets, it gives hope to the equal rights movement. In pride month, for such a case to be won gives hope to others who feared for their professional careers.
With one step forward towards equality, the future looks bright.
