Court hands LGBT cause a victory

NEW YORK — The LGBT community and its corporate supporters won a legal victory over the Trump administration on Monday as a federal appeals court ruled that firing workers over their sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination.

The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars workplace discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion, covers lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees who complain that they have been discriminated against because of sexual preference, the federal appeals court in Manhattan said Monday.

At least two federal appeals courts have banned discrimination over sexual orientation, while a third appeals court has reached a different conclusion, setting up a possible Supreme Court appeal.

The case was filed by a skydiving instructor, Donald Zarda, who said he was fired by Altitude Express Inc. because he was gay. He argued that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act covers sexual orientation. Zarda, who sued in 2010, died in a base-jumping accident in Switzerland in 2014. His estate and relatives carried on with the case.

A panel of three appeals court judges ruled against Zarda in April, before he was granted the rehearing before the full appeals court.

The Trump administration filed a legal brief in support of the skydiving company, based on New York’s Long Island.