Court says no to discrimination, but we must keep fighting
Is it right to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity? With a clear “no,” Orlando answered this question on the basis of sexual orientation in 2002 and gender identity in 2014. Thank you, Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Gorsuch, Kagan, Roberts and Sotomayor for listening to the will of communities like ours.
As members of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee who have written, updated, and amended 18 ordinances and policy changes about LGBT discrimination in Orlando and Orange County, we watched the Supreme Court oral arguments last October with great interest.
Beginning in 2000, we acted locally, because the state Legislature failed to act. We celebrate that, today, the rest of the nation joins the 32 states and at least 400 cities and counties that already prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity for public and private employees. With more than half the population covered by such laws, it was time for the federal government to act.
The court jointly decided three cases:
Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, Bostock v. Clayton County, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC. Each involved an employer who fired someone for identifying as gay or transgender. SCOTUS ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are forms of sex-based discrimination and therefore illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to retired Judge Rand Hoch, chair of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Commission, this means: “[E]very [LGBT] person in the United States working for an employer with fifteen or more workers will be protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The LGBT civil rights movement was elevated to a new level with the riots at the Stonewall Bar in New York City more than 50 years ago. Only now has our country’s highest court affirmed for the nation that LGBT people should not be fired from their jobs for being LGBT.
The liberations of all communities are tied together. At Stonewall, a person of color threw the first brick. Today we see LGBT people and organizations standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. As activists on both fronts, we understand oppression. We understand discrimination and marginalization.
The COVID-19 crisis lays bare inequities and injustices based on race, gender identity, economic insecurity and other marginalized statuses. As of June 11, 44.1 million people in the U.S. had filed for unemployment. SCOTUS’ ruling eliminates one reason for people to get needlessly terminated. That’s good for our country —especially now.
Unfortunately, our work isn’t over. There are no federal protections for LGBT people in the areas of housing and public accommodations, including health care. On June 12, the Trump administration took away health-care protections for people identifying as transgender.
In light of SCOTUS’ ruling, employment discrimination no longer will be permitted in the Central Florida counties of Seminole, Lake, Brevard and Polk. We urge them to join Orange, Osceola, and Volusia counties in adopting protections in the areas of housing and public accommodation.
We urge readers to: 1) register to vote and vote; 2) fight for others’ voting rights; 3) educate your friends and family; 4) convey support to your local, state, and federal representatives for the federal Equality Act, which would add protections for LGBT persons in housing and public accommodation.
The SCOTUS decision results from, literally, millions of actions large and small, from one-on-one conversations, to three-minute speeches at city council hearings, to public policy changes. Kudos to everyone who contributed. With a patchwork of laws and ordinances throughout the country, some LGBT workers had been moving from location to location seeking protection.
From this day forward, to quote Judge Hoch, LGBT workers’ rights no longer will “be determined by their ZIP Code.” Let’s keep up the fight!