BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court rules gay and lesbian people ARE protected from being fired for their sexuality by civil rights laws in major blow to Donald Trump's administration

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and lesbian people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.

The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against gay and lesbian workers.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by President Donald Trump, authored the majority opinion, which he was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts.  

'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, Gorsuch wrote.

'Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,' he added.

The 6-3 ruling represented the biggest moment for LGBT rights in the United States since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. 

+8

Fractured court: The 6-3 ruling saw two conservatives - Neil Gorsuch and John Roberts - join the liberal wing of the court to rule that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to gay and lesbian people

The Trump administration has argued that sexual orientation and gender identity are not covered by the Civil Rights Act.  

The three dissents came from Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito  and Brett Kavanaugh -  the more recent of Trump's two appointees.

At issue was whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars companies from discriminating against workers on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin and religion, also covers LGBT+ people.

+8

A man waves a rainbow flag as he rides by the US Supreme Court that released a decision that says federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination on June 15, 2020 in Washington,DC

+8

The court's 6-3 majority opinion that it is illegal to fire workers based on sexual orientation was authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch

+8

The court's 6-3 ruling affects millions of Americans

+8

Participants march up Market Street in the annual LGBT Pride Parade in San Francisco on June 25, 2017. Political action, gay pride and corporate advertising were themes as tens of thousands participated

More than half of LGBT+ Americans live in states without explicit workplace protections, according to U.S. think tank Movement Advancement Project, meaning they could be fired or harassed for being gay or trans and have little legal recourse.

LGBT+ rights have become increasingly contentious under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has rolled back some initiatives, such as trans people enlisting in the military.

Last week the Trump administration announced a rollback of guidance implemented during the administration of President Barack Obama which protected trans people from facing discrimination in healthcare.

+8

Aimee Stephens lost her job as funeral director for a funeral home in Livonia, Michigan after changer her gender identity in 2012

+8

LGBT worker, Gerald Bostock speaks to demonstrators in favor of LGBT rights rally outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, October 8, 2019. Bostock got strong internal reviews as a child social worker,  but that ended after he joined a gay softball league.

+8

A separate case, Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, involved a skydriving instructor who told a female client he was gay

The decision affects millions of gay or transgender Americans in the workplace, and is the first major ruling on the topic since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018. 

One of the cases the court ruled on involved Gerald Bostock, who had served as the child welfare coordinator for Clayton Country, Ga. His job focused on coordinating foster care for abused and neglected children in the county.

Bostock got strong internal reviews for his job performance, but that ended after he joined a gay softball league.

'From that point on, my life changed,' Bostock told NPR. ''I lost my livelihood. I lost my medical insurance, and I was recovering from prostate cancer when this occurred. It was devastating,' he said. 

The other case involved Aimee Stephens, who lost her job as funeral director for a funeral home in Livonia, Michigan after changer her gender identity in 2012. She presented as a male when she was first hired. She got fired two weeks after telling her boss of her decision and coming to work as a transgender woman and announcing she would 'live and work full-time as a woman.'

A separate case, Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, involved a skydriving instructor who told a female client who expressed concerns about being strapped to him not to worry because he was '100 per cent gay.' 

The instructor, Donald Zarda, was fired from his job after the woman complained. 

The cases hinged on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied. The Act bans discrimination 'because of . . . sex.'

The law make it unlawful for an employer 'to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.' 

The court's ruling construes the word 'sex' to apply to gay and transgender people. 

U.S. Appeals Courts were split on whether the statute applied to sexual orientation.  

'When an employer fires an employee for being homosexual or transgender, it necessarily intentionally discriminates against that individual in part because of sex,' according to a syllabus accompanying the ruling. 

The majority wrote: '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. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.' 

Former Vice President Joe Biden celebrated the ruling in a statement released by his campaign. 'Today's Supreme Court decision is a momentous step forward for our country,' he said. 'Before today, in more than half of states, LGBTQ+ people could get married one day and be fired from their job the next day under state law, simply because of who they are or who they love. This landmark 6-3 ruling affirms that LGBTQ+ Americans are entitled to equal rights under the law.'

The Trump Administration has methodically used regulations and the courts to seek to undue Obama Administration extensions of rights to gays and lesbians, even as Trump called himself a 'real friend' of gays and lesbians during the campaign.

Trump during his 2016 GOP convention speech mentioned 'our LGBTQ community' and said during the campaign that Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom at Trump Tower.  Trump called himself 'most pro-LGBT presidential nominee in the history of the Republican Party.'

But inside the bureaucracy after the election, the Trump Administration reinstated a ban on transgender people serving in the military. He withdrew protections for transgender students that let them use the public restrooms that fit with their gender identity. The Education and Justice Departments under Obama had told schools receiving federal funds to allow the change, and it had become a campaign issue. The Trump administration said the policy did not provide 'extensive legal analysis' on why it was consistent with the law.

The State Department banned U.S. embassies abroad from displaying the rainbow flag.

Trump last year won the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, and appointed Ric Grennel, who is openly gay, as his ambassador to Germany and his acting Director of National Intelligence. The group had withheld its endorsement in 2016.

'While we do not agree with every policy or platform position presented by the White House or the Republican Party, we share a commitment to individual responsibility, personal freedom and a strong national defense," the group's chair and vice chair, Robert Kabel and Jill Homan, wrote. 

Trump has said he opposes gay marriage, and his administration filed court briefs against protecting gays and lesbians from employment discrimination under Civil Rights laws. Trump's Health and Human Services issued rules rolling back rules extending health care protections to transgender people. Vice President Mike Pence also opposes gay marriage, citing his Christian faith.