Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a trio of cases involving the federal ban on sex discrimination in the workplace in which members of the LGBTQ community were wrongfully fired for no other reason than their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The three cases—R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens; Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda; and Bostock v. Clayton County—all deal with the fundamental question of whether the ban on sex discrimination in the workplace extends to LGBTQ workers. The cases have implications for how all people are treated on the job.
Laura E. Durso, vice president of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
At the center of the issues presented before the Supreme Court today are real people—employees in good standing who were fired simply because of who they are. LGBTQ individuals experience systematic discrimination in the workplace and across all areas of life, and the decision before the court is not about an abstract legal theory but the lives and livelihoods of millions of people nationwide. Should the court decide to strip away protections, it will harm countless LGBTQ people and could completely rewrite the way that sex discrimination is treated in the workplace, harming millions more.
Further, today’s arguments highlight the dangers that Americans face from the unrelenting conservative court packing that has rushed ideological extremists to the bench. If the court wishes to truly show itself to be nonpartisan, it will rule for workers in today’s cases and protect the civil rights of individuals across the country.
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