On Monday, June 15th, 2020 the Supreme Court ruled that federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination in the workplace. A surprising 6-3 decision in favor of LGBTQ folks with the majority opinion written by Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch. A huge victory and joy for all those who fought their way through the legal system in order to solidify these protections for themselves across all fifty states. However, in reality, how do these protections play out in the everyday life of marginalized workers?
All 50 states in this country along with Washington D.C. maintain some form of at-will employment. At-will employment allows businesses to fire workers without even needing to give a reason. Some states have “exceptions” but these exceptions are hard to catch and enforce. If a business decides that your marginalized status is something that they do not want to employ they can simply fire you for “unsatisfactory performance”. So how does the Supreme Court ruling come into play? LGBTQ folks themselves know when they’re being unjustly targeted and fired just because of who they are, this federal law allows them to sue for damages and unjust employment practices but due to the at-will nature of employment in the U.S. it’s not an easy task to prove you were fired because of your marginalized status.
This law essentially allows more well off and secure LGBTQ folks to fight for damages after the discriminatory event happens but it is not a fix for the institutional discrimination faced by LGBTQ workers. For the most marginalized, such as black trans women, it changes almost nothing in regards to how they are able to or more commonly *unable* to navigate employment. When moments like this occur it can seem like a huge success but it’s important to step back and think what does this change? What about for the poor and most marginalized among us? Is whiteness and class position an indicator for this policy’s/decision’s effect on their material conditions?
Just this month two black trans women were murdered because they dared to be authentically themselves, because this country is still violently transmisogynistic. Would this ruling have kept them protected? Did this ruling change anything institutionally? It’s important to keep in mind that black trans women in this country have an acute understanding of what LGBTQ discrimination looks like and until we tackle the violence they face directly and specifically, LGBTQ discrimination will not go away, even if the Supreme Court rules it so.