In July 2019, LDF joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and 56 of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations as amici curiae in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, and two companion cases, to urge the Court to recognize that the workplace anti-discrimination protections in Title VII apply to LGBTQ+ individuals. Enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII was designed to eliminate discrimination in employment. The systemic racial discrimination against Black Americans in the workplace was the initial impetus for the law, but it is well-established that Title VII protects against disparate treatment based on other characteristics including sex, national origin, and religion.
In a major win in the struggle for LGBTQ+ equality, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of plaintiffs in Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda and Bostock v. Clayton County, holding that Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This victory is particularly significant for LGBTQ+ persons of color who are most likely to face workplace discrimination on the basis of their gender identity and race.
In its decision, the Court relied upon Phillips v. Martin Marietta, a landmark 1971 case in which LDF successfully vindicated the employment rights of a woman who was denied a job because she had school-age children by an employer who routinely hired men with young children.
Read the Supreme Court’s decision here.
Read the joint amicus brief filed in July 2019 here.
