Last week’s Supreme Court decision that federal law does, in fact, prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation was long overdue.
The court acknowledged that any attempt to discriminate against an employee on either basis necessarily involved discrimination on the basis of sex.
“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,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”
That this happened long after straight Americans accepted the reality that their transgender, lesbian, bisexual and gay neighbors are in fact people who deserve the same rights and protections afforded to heterosexuals should be a source of shame for all members of the U.S. Senate.
The House passed the bipartisan Equality Act last year, which would update the Fair Housing Act and a handful of other key civil rights laws to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of traits protected from discrimination. While itself long overdue, that action was followed by an all-too-typical absence of alacrity on the part of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or other Republican leaders, despite one of their colleagues – Sen. Susan Collins of Maine – being one of the law’s chief sponsors.
Setting aside the moral problems inherent in a democratic country failing to ensure its values are enshrined in the letter of the law, this lackadaisical attitude towards minority rights forces Americans to wait for what could be years for new cases to wind their way through the courts. That’s time they should otherwise be able to do things like rent or buy a home without fear of discrimination in 27 states and five territories, including Puerto Rico.
In Massachusetts, we are fortunate that our legislature acted some years ago to confirm these rights in state law. At least within this state’s borders, no governor or president can exploit legal grey areas to roll back key protections guaranteed only by potential offenders’ unwillingness to mount court challenges. Even then, as reported elsewhere in this issue, advocates say those charged with investigating Fair Housing violations may not have enough resources to do their job properly.
Our nation’s foundational promise, that we are all created equal and possessed of the same civil rights, has never been available to all, as the events of the last few weeks have reminded so many white Americans. Congress must make bills and policies that attempt to fix this a priority.
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