Recently the Supreme Court justices were met with a case on job discrimination and transgender rights. In 1964 a law was passed saying no one could be discriminated against based on sex. But what does that mean today?

Nowadays, sex is defined as what reproductive organs you are assigned at birth, gender being more of a decision in todays day and age. Those who identify as transgender could either be born female but identify as male, or vis versa. So how do you define a law that was made in 1964? The Supreme Court justices had to make that choice on Tuesday. 

Job discrimination is active and legal is some areas of our country. But what is being decided, is if the law from 1964 titled  “VII of the Civil Rights Act” applies to members of the lgbtq+ community. In 1964 sex and gender were very similar meanings. That is not the case today. Being that there are separate definitions, that makes this case very difficult for the Supreme Court justices. 

Among the justices, some were more passionate about the topic more than others. Justice Sotomayor made sure to express her truthful opinion on the subject saying, “We can’t deny that homosexuals are being fired merely for being who they are and not because of religious reasons, not because they are performing their jobs poorly, not because they can’t do whatever is required of a position. But merely because they’re a suspect class to some people. They may have power in some regions, but they are still being beaten, they are still being ostracized for certain things.”

But Justice Gorsuch might have had a different point of view. He directly was referring to the text from VII. He was a believer of textualism, in brief meaning that he considered the words from Congress rather than other outside sources. Therefore, Justice Gorsuch might have interpreted the law in a much different manner than justice Sotomayor.

In short, the conversation continues, on whether the VII law was directly or indirectly discriminating the lgbtq+ community.