x-post from LBN: Supreme Court rules existing civil rights law protects gay and lesbian workers

[Eugene]

Original thread in LBN: Supreme Court rules existing civil rights law protects gay and lesbian workers

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Source: NBC News

Supreme Court rules existing civil rights law protects gay and lesbian workers

The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, also covers sexual orientation.

June 15, 2020, 10:05 AM EDT / Updated June 15, 2020, 10:09 AM EDT
By Pete Williams

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that existing federal law forbids job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a major victory for advocates of gay rights — and a surprising one from an increasingly conservative court.

The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, among other factors, also covers sexual orientation. It upheld rulings from lower courts that said sexual orientation discrimination was a form of sex discrimination.

Across the nation, 21 states have their own laws prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Seven more provide that protection only to public employees. Those laws remain in force, but Monday's ruling means federal law now provides similar protection for LGBT employees in the rest of the country.

Gay rights groups considered the case a highly significant one, even more important than the fight to get the right to marry, because nearly every LGBT adult has or needs a job.

They conceded that sexual orientation was not on the minds of anyone in Congress when the civil rights law was passed. But they said when an employer fires a male employee for dating men, but not a female employee who dates men, that violates the law.

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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-existing-civil-rights-law-protects-gay-lesbian-n1231018

[irisblue]

1. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

I spent decades in closets.

I am thrilled

[lambchopp59]

3. I spent two decades in a great deal of jeopardy due to refusal to remain in said closet.

And oh fluck did I suffer bumps and bruises, insults and pontificated shame, a fire and brimstone spit-upon session by the late master of hate himself, Fred Phelps, homelessness, sick as a dog from a spider bite from sleeping in a city plumbing tunnel (not an easy one to get to either!) just to remain alive and kicking after being inadvertently "outed" in a small redneck village. Very shortly after coming of age I became loud, proud and no homophobe going to keep me down allowed.
And the there was the 1980's and the shame became much more a shared phenomenon as we lost brother after sister to the HIV epidemic, the only medicine available producing symptoms almost worse than the disease, and the pride parades became veritable funeral dirges. I mettled myself to deflect marchers from throwing physical objects and insults towards the idiotic Westboro group gathered there to garner media attention. We steered them away too, directing them off the martyrs back onto the main event. They became frustrated, packed their hateful signs back into the bus, and we didn't see them again the next year. it was immensely satisfying to see them drive away. Some retribution from making my life a living hell through what should have been my last two years of high school.
I'm a bit jealous actually, of those who could simply hide it away. I know that must have caused crushing inner and outer conflicts. There wasn't, frankly, any good way of handling the situation, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
No amount of recognition nowadays of our lifestyle being just as "normal", whatever that is, as any hetero can make up for the loss of my husband, who passed away just before there were better treatment alternatives available.
I can credit some painful but effective cognitive-enhancing drug PTSD therapy to remove the nightmares. So much maladjustment from so much banishment, shame and physical pain. Should you be suffering the same sort of affliction, there may still be treatment trials available that were truly remarkable.
Sorry, I can't help being prolifically protracted about this.

[Odoreida]

2. Finally! n/t