Strange Bedfellows

Two conservatives join court’s expansion of LGBTQ protections

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed down a landmark ruling for equal protection in the workplace. In a 6-3 decision, the court said that Title VII of the 1964 civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch admitted Congress in 1964 likely didn’t envision extending such protections to the LGBTQ community, but that they “weren’t thinking about many of the act’s consequences that have become apparent over the years, including its prohibition against discrimination on the basis of motherhood or its ban on the sexual harassment of male employees.”

The ban on discrimination based on sex in Title VII does not allow a double standard, Gorsuch argued, such as firing a gay male for being attracted to men while keeping on the job a female worker who is also attracted to men.

“An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,” he wrote.

While the ruling might upset some — particularly those who feel they should be able to combine religious convictions with business decisions — it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the court 2015 ruling that allowed same-sex marriage nationwide. This was just the next step.

What is interesting is that two members of the court’s conservative wing — Chief Justice John Roberts and President Donald Trump’s appointee Gorsuch — joined the four liberal justices in expanding LGBTQ rights.

Somehow, we doubt this was what the president’s supporters were counting on when they celebrated his judicial appointments. We can only wonder what this particular court alliance means for future controversial cases.