The administration continues to do poorly for the LGBTQ community.
Just a week after arguing that it should be legal to fire employees for being transgender, the Tr*mp administration is now arguing it should be legal to fire employees just because they’re gay.
Some courts interpret the ‘sex’ characteristic under the Civil Rights Act 1964 to protect sexual orientation. However, the Tr*mp administration has filed briefings with the Supreme Court arguing against this.
In the briefings, it says: “[The] prohibition on discrimination because of sex does not bar discrimination because of sexual orientation. The ordinary meaning of ‘sex’ is biologically male or female; it does not include sexual orientation.
“An employer who discriminates against employees in same-sex relationships thus does not violate Title VII [sex discrimination rules] as long as it treats men in same-sex relationships the same as women in same-sex relationships.”
The briefing also notes how the US Congress has failed to pass laws which explicitly protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination. Although the Equality Act, which would do this, has passed some stages, Republicans in Congress refuse to vote on it.
The brief was submitted by the Solicitor-General, Noel J. Francisco.
This latest attack on the LGBTQ community comes just a week after similar briefs were filed arguing that it was fine to fire someone just because they were transgender, and it comes in the same week that Tr*mp claimed he had “done very well” when it came to the LGBTQ community.
Last week, when arguing it was legal to fire trans people, the administration filed briefs saying: “Title VII does not prohibit discrimination against transgender persons based on their transgender status. It simply does not speak to discrimination because of an individual’s gender identity or a disconnect between an individual’s gender identity and the individual’s sex.”
It added: “Title VII prohibits treating an individual less favorably than similarly situated individuals of the opposite sex.”
The Supreme Court is expected in October to begin hearing cases in which people were fired because of their LGBTQ identity.
It is feared that if the Supreme Court rules in favour of the employers, LGBTQ rights in the country could be rolled back. It would mean that sex-based discrimination laws would no longer protect trans people, and with no federal laws protecting discrimination against LGBTQ people, it could make it easier to discriminate in many fields, like employment, housing and even medical care.
This court filing comes the week after that the Tr*mp administration proposed a new rule to allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people, so long as it was based on their religious beliefs.
Despite once promising to protect the LGBTQ community, GLAAD have now counted 123 attacks against the LGBTQ community from Trump’s administration – you can read all about them in the charity’s Trump Accountability Project.
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