What is Sex Discrimination? That Was the Question Before the Supreme Court on October 8
The Supreme Court heard three separate cases concerning Title VII protections, including a Michigan case dealing with a transgender worker and two others, from New York and Georgia, about LGBT workers. Photo by Amy-Xiaoshi DePaola/Cronkite News
By Jo Freeman
Several hundred people protested in front of the Supreme Court on October 8 as it heard oral argument on the issue of exactly what is sex discrimination in employment. At the end of the rally 132 people were arrested for blocking the street in planned civil disobedience.
"Sex" is one of the protected categories in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment. At that time, same-sex relations were a crime in every state except Illinois. Transgender wasn’t even a word. Much has happened in 55 years.
The Court agreed to hear three cases on whether Title VII protects gay, lesbian and transgender employees after three Circuit Courts of Appeal made conflicting decisions.
In Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia the Eleventh Circuit found that Title VII does not include sexual orientation. The opposite conclusion was reached by the Second Circuit in Altitude Express v. Zarda. In Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC the complaint was filed by a person, but the defendant was the federal agency that found in her favor. Anthony Stephens had worked for a funeral home for six years. After he informed his employer that he was transitioning into a women, Aimee was fired. The EEOC found sex discrimination, the District Court disagreed, and the Six Circuit reversed.
Supporters of LGBTQ rights came from all over. Eddie Reynoso flew in from San Diego on Friday, October 4. He camped out on the sidewalk in front of the Court in a chair. Others joined him on Sunday, where they watched the anti-Kavanaugh demonstration without leaving their place in line. Each day the Court is in session it allows the first fifty people in line to take seats inside to watch the proceedings as long as they like. Those who come afterwards are allowed in to watch for a few minutes before another group is brought in.
Rev. Andrew Bennett and Rev. Wendy von Courter drove from Massachusetts. He is the youth pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Lynn, MA. She is the senior pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, MA. He came to provide support. She came to be arrested.
Pages: 1 · 2
More Articles
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's "brilliance, grace, humor, tact, and unyielding resolve that saw her shatter barriers in the legal world”
- Sex, Race and Religion Flood the Streets of Washington, DC Over MLK Weekend
- Jo Freeman's Marching for Immigrants – Again; With the Theme of 'We Care'
- Free Speech v. Free Riding, Janus v. AFSCME before the Supreme Court
- Jo Freeman's Convention Diary: Class and Culture at the Republican and Democratic Conventions
- Thirty Interesting Facts About Dorothy Day's Life, Many Commonly Known and Others Less So
- Encountering Unusual Headwinds: Fed Reserve Vice Chair Yellen Explains the Painfully Slow Recovery for America's Workers
