The attorneys general of 15 Republican
states have submitted a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court arguing
that LGBT workers are not protected by federal civil rights law.
The states argue that Title VII's
protections based on sex do not extend to people who identify as
lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender because Congress in 1964 didn't
intend to ban such discrimination and lawmakers have failed to enact
legislation such as the Equality Act which would explicitly do so.
“[A]t the time Congress enacted Title
VII, ‘sex,’ ‘sexual orientation,’ and ‘gender identity’
had different meanings,” the brief states. “As a result, the word
‘sex’ in Title VII cannot be fairly construed to mean or include
‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.’ The Second Circuit
and the Sixth Circuit erroneously conflated these terms to redefine
and broaden Title VII beyond its congressionally intended scope.”
The Supreme Court will hear arguments
in three cases involving workers who lost their jobs because of their
sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Trump administration made similar
arguments in briefs it filed in the cases.
(Related: ACLU:
Trump Supreme Court brief “reverse engineered” to conclude it's
OK to fire gay workers.)