Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects workers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation

NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, released the following statement in response of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, includes protections on the basis of sexual orientation in the case Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc. This is a major hit against the anti-LGBTQ agenda of Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice, who filed an amicus brief to the court arguing that sexual orientation should not be protected under the Civil Rights Act.  

“Today’s court ruling is a decisive victory, and a significant rejection of the Trump Administration’s ongoing campaign to strip rights and protections away from LGBTQ people in the workplace,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “This strong affirmation that sexual orientation is protected under Title VII is a vital step forward, but it is imperative to continue to fight for the courts to affirm gender identity is also protected by denying the Trump Administration attempts to block the transgender community from having standing under the language of sex discrimination.”

Much like their attempts to undermine protections for workers based on sexual orientation, the Trump Administration has been working to write an anti-trans interpretation of sex discrimination into law by denying that gender identity is protected under the Civil Rights Act. In October 2017 Jeff Session reversed a federal policy that interpreted Title VII to include protections for the transgender community on the basis of sex.
 

###