All eyes on Trump-nominee judges as SC divided on inclusion of gay, transgender workers in law barring workplace sex bias
The Supreme Court on October 8 appeared divided on whether a civil rights law that prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sex is applicable to gay and transgender workers. The apex court heard arguments related to two cases of alleged discrimination against two gay employees while a third involved a transgender woman.
Stance of Trump-nominated judges
The court’s rulings in the three crucial cases seemed to depend on Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the two conservative associate justices who are nominees of President Donald Trump. While the former called the dispute over transgenders’ rights “close” but more likely to be an issue for Congress to address, the latter hasn’t yet given a clear indication of his stance.
On the other hand, four liberal justices of the top court denounced the firings of the two gay men and the transgender women and said all three should be protected by the statutory ban on discrimination on the basis of sex.
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the acts “invidious behavior” and said: “We can't deny that homosexuals are being fired merely for being who they are and not because of religious reasons, not because they are performing their jobs poorly.”
This is the first time that the Supreme Court has heard a case involving gay rights since 2018 and the rulings in the cases are likely to come when the presidential campaign for the 2020 elections will be in full swing. Meanwhile, protesters from both sides assembled outside the top court as the arguments began and the rulings could see the cases turning out to be a landmark for the nation’s LGBT rights, four years after gay marriage became legal.
About the cases
Donald Zarda, a skydiving instructor from New York who died in a professional accident in 2014, was fired from the job in 2010 after telling a female client jokingly that she did not have to worry about close physical contact during a tandem-diving since he was cent percent gay. The company said he was sacked since he shared his personal information with a client and not because of his sexual orientation.
Gerald Bostock, a former child welfare services from Georgia, lost his job after he joined a gay recreational softball league and hence revealed his sexual orientation. His employer firm said he was fired since his conduct was “unbecoming of a county employee." While a court in New York ruled in Zarda’s favor, Bostock was less lucky in a federal court in Atlanta.
And finally, Aimee Stephens, a funeral home worker in Michigan, lost her job for insisting to work in women’s clothes, six years after working as Anthony Stephens. She wrote a letter to her colleagues telling them that she would return to work as her “true self” but her employer did not approve of the dress code which it felt did not go with Stephens’ biological sex. She was also lucky to have been aided by a lower court.
However, the justice department under President Donald Trump stood by the employers in each case.