Neil Gorsuch

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by @ericof
2020-06-15T18:00:02+00:00
Regional News • Americas • United States
Supreme Court grants LGBTQ workers federal job protections
Portland, Maine residents carry the large rainbow flag down Congress Street
Portland, Maine residents carry the large rainbow flag down Congress Street Credit: Mercedes Mehling

In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court further advanced the cause of LGBTQ rights Monday, ruling that a landmark civil rights law barring sex discrimination in the workplace applies to gay, lesbian and transgender workers.

The decision was written by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's first nominee to the court. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's four liberal justices. Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

"An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex," Gorsuch wrote.