200+ Major Companies Submit Supreme Court Brief in Favor of LGBT Employees

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On October 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the cases Altitude Express v. Zarda and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens that will determine whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sex, prohibits discrimination against LGBT employees.  206 major companies have filed amicus briefs with the Court arguing that LGBT employees should not be subject to firing or other employment discrimination.  Opposed to this argument is the always vile and always disingenuous Alliance Defending Freedom - but only for Christofascists, of course - which continues the quest of evangelical extremists and far right Catholics to be placed above the laws that govern the rest of us. Selfishness and greed - as the prior post on taxpayer funding of religious schools notes - are the main attributes of these people.  NBC News looks at the companies opposing discrimination.  Here are excerpts: 

More than 200 major U.S. and international corporations signed an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday arguing that excluding sexual orientation and gender identity from federal civil rights law “would undermine the nation’s business interests.”

“The 206 businesses that join this brief as amici collectively employ over 7 million employees, and comprise over $5 trillion in revenue,” the brief states. “These businesses — which range across a wide variety of industries (and some of which are even competitors) — share a common interest in equality because they know that ending discrimination in the workplace is good for business, employees, and the U.S. economy as a whole.”

The signatories include Airbnb, Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, Bayer, Bank of America, Best Buy, Domino’s, Facebook, GM, Google, Hilton, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Marriott, Macy’s, Morgan Stanley, Nike and Comcast-NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.

The brief comes before the high court hears arguments Oct. 8 in three cases involving LGBTQ workplace discrimination. In Altitude Express v. Zarda, a skydiving instructor was fired after a customer complained that the instructor disclosed that he is gay. In R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens, a trans woman was fired from her long-time job at a funeral home after she announced her gender transition. And in Bostock v. Clayton County, a man was fired from his job as a county child welfare services coordinator after his employer learned he is gay.

While lower courts ruled in favor of the employees in the first two cases, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the employer in the Bostock case, setting up incongruity between the lower courts, and thus, a Supreme Court review. The high court justices are expected to rule on whether workplace discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation or gender identity violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative [certified hate group] Christian legal group known for advocating against LGBTQ rights, is arguing for the court to reverse lower courts’ expanding definition of sex discrimination.

Without a federal law explicitly banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a number of states across the United States have passed their own measures to outlaw such discrimination. However, it is currently legal in 26 states [including Virginia, thanks to Republicans in the General Assembly] to fire someone solely due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.

Should the Supreme Court side with the LGBTQ employees in the three cases at hand, discriminating against an employee due to their sexual orientation or gender identity would become illegal under federal civil rights law.

If one reads the wording atop the Supreme Court building, it says "equal justice under the law" - something that LGBT Americans in 26 states still do not enjoy.  I was forced from a law firm for being gay a decade and a half ago. It destroyed me financially and, while I am doing well financially again, I will never be in the financial position I would have enjoyed but for that bigotry based firing.  No one should have their life and their family harmed because of bigotry that clings to a selective parsing of Bronze Age myths and legends. 

And yes, I will continue to tell the truth about groups like Alliance Defending Freedom - and The Family Foundation - as long as they continue to disseminate lies about LGBT individuals and seek special rights for their knuckle dragging followers. .