USA TODAY International Edition
My husband was fired for being gay
The Supreme Court will hear his case today
I’ll never forget the day Don called me in 2010 and told me he had been fired. He was so upset.
Don Zarda was a skydiving instructor, and he had moved to Long Island for the summer season to work at a jump zone owned by Altitude Express. Skydiving was Don’s passion — when the two of us met, he took me on my first jump less than a day later.
Don was fired after a customer learned he was gay — and then complained to Altitude Express about it. Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will decide whether it was legal to strip Don of his job because of his sexual orientation.
Don’s ordeal started when he completed a tandem skydive with a woman who signed up with her boyfriend. During a tandem skydive, the instructor and passenger are strapped very tightly together at the shoulders, chest and hips. In an attempt to reassure his customer about the close contact, Don told her that he was gay and had a husband in Texas to prove it. A few days later he was suspended without pay. Don’s boss told him it was inappropriate for him to share with customers facts about his personal life — the fact that he had husband and not a wife.
The psychological toll that being fired took on Don was tremendous. The financial consequences were also severe. Skydiving instructors work seasonally, and losing much of the summer’s worth of income led to credit card debt and an inability to take college classes he had planned on.
Don and I had been together for more than 10 years at that point. He was the most honest person I’ve ever met, a sweet man who loved animals and was always kind to people. Tragically, in 2014, he died during a BASE jumping accident. But before Don passed away, he filed a suit against Altitude Express, hoping for justice.
1964 Civil Rights Act
Don did not live long enough to see his day in court. Now, his case has made it to the Supreme Court. Along with another case of a Georgia man who was fired for being gay, Don’s case will determine whether it is legal for employers in the United States to terminate an employee on the simple basis of being LGBTQ.
It’s infuriating and painful that we are still having this debate in 2019, and the stakes could not be higher. The case revolves around Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” Altitude Express — and the Trump administration, which has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court — is arguing that firing Don because of his sexual orientation wasn’t related to his sex and therefore should be legal under Title VII. This is, of course, absurd.
It was Don’s sex that was the very basis of Altitude Express’ homophobia and cruelty. It was not the mere fact that he loved a man that led to his firing; it was the fact that he was a man who loved another man. If he had been a woman who loved a man, he would not have been fired.
LGBTQ people in America have been fighting for our rights my entire life. Each step of the way, opponents of equality have pushed back on our struggle to be respected and treated with dignity. Don’s case is a continuation of that struggle. Too many of my friends still have to live in fear in their workplace, hiding who they are from their colleagues and superiors, changing their pronouns at work, their livelihood dependent on how well they wear masks that they should have been able to discard years ago.
Don't sanction prejudice
If the Supreme Court rules that Title VII doesn’t protect us from this kind of discrimination, as this administration hopes it will, it will set a precedent that discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace is legal. This means that any employers who want to shun us and prevent us from actualizing our talents will have the blessings of U. S. law. It is imperative the court does not sanction prejudice in that way. The consequences would be dire.
I am tired. I miss Don, and I think about him every day. This case continues to dredge up painful memories. But I know how important it is, and how much Don would want me to keep fighting not just on his behalf, but on behalf of all the LGBTQ people in this country for whom workplaces remain unsafe and inhospitable. It would be life- changing for so many people to be able to stop worrying and know they can simply be themselves.
Some people think that after we were given the right to marry, discrimination against us vanished. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here we are, still having to fight. And this is a battle we have to win. Don deserved better, and so do we all.
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