Less than a day after Donald Trump announced a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Department of Justice has issued an amicus brief that argues against protections for LGBTQ employees. Jeff Sessions and the DOJ claim to prove that the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect "homosexuals" from discrimination in the workplace.
Oh yeah and "homosexuals" is the term they're using again. Way to go, America! Total facepalm day!
In a nutshell, the brief declares that sexual orientation is NOT sex discrimination. Currently, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mentions that the Civil Rights Act "makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity) or religion." But basically the DOJ is saying it is OKAY to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals in work environments!
The brief comes during a case Zarda v. Altitude Express in which a skydiving employee filed a lawsuit claiming his employer discriminated against him because of his sexual orientation. His claim was rejected by the district court as they stated he was not protected from the discrimination of his being gay. The employee, Donald Zarda, died in a skydiving accident in 2014 and the case is currently open in the court of appeals. And here we are with this amicus brief.
The main points being argued in the amicus brief are:
- TITLE VII’S BAR AGAINST DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX IS NOT VIOLATED UNLESS MEN AND WOMEN ARE TREATED UNEQUALLY
- DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS NOT DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX UNDER TITLE VII
