LGBTQ+ Activists Made Themselves Heard For 3 Landmark Supreme Court Cases

By Mary Emily O'Hara


On Tuesday (October 8), the Supreme Court heard arguments in a series of landmark LGBTQ+ equality cases. Attorneys for three LGBTQ+ plaintiffs — Aimee Stephens, Donald Zarda, and Gerald Bostock — argued before the nation’s highest court that their clientele should not have been fired from their jobs for being gay or transgender.


Currently, federal civil rights law bans discrimination based on sex. However while lower courts have determined a number of times that “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity, the law does not explicitly spell that out. Because fewer than half of U.S. States have laws banning anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, LGBTQ+ people in most of the nation are still at risk of being fired from their jobs, denied housing, kicked out of restaurants, and more without legal recourse.


The Supreme Court’s decision in all three cases could impact employment rights for some of the nation’s most weak populations. It will especially affect the nation’s 1.4 million transgender people, who are three times more likely to be unemployed and frequently report being fired from jobs due to their gender identity, according to a 2015 survey out of the National Center for Transgender Equality.


“Today, nine Supreme Court Justices will have the generic rights of every LGBTQ+ American in their hands,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, mentioned in a statement emailed to MTV News on Tuesday. “For several trans people, this might be an alarming prospect. Some of those Justices have a worldview that doesn’t include transgender people at all. Nevertheless soon after 20 years of working to fulfill the dream of transgender equality, I can tell you that we have never had a higher class of chance to create our dream a reality.”


Actress Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black) was a visitor of the ACLU and posted a Instagram video right following the arguments concluded, saying she felt “overwhelmed” to be present at the first-ever transgender rights case to be argued before the Supreme Court.


Action also took place outdoor the court, where LGBTQ+ advocates and transphobic counter-protesters clashed; police also closed off streets for a brief period of time right after finding two suspicious packages at an intersection near the court. Capitol Police resolved the supply by 10 a.M., Allowing the rally to continue.


The main rally kicked off with clergy members and faith leaders from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian traditions, who sang “This Little Light of Mine.” LaLa Zannell, manager of the ACLU’s Trans Justice Campaign, was the initial speaker and joked with the crowd about how she never gets up at dawn and that she could be cautious not to curse into the mic because her mother is a pastor.


“This ain’t about politics today, the legal team handles that inside,” Zannell mentioned. “The world needs to be able to see our hearts and our souls. That we love just like each person else. We deserve to work just like each person else. And oh yes — we can vote your beep [sic] out just like anybody else.”


JoDee Winterhof, the senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, instructed them crowd that the cases before the Supreme Court “illustrate the kind of discrimination that thousands of LGBTQ+ people face each day in this country.” In 29 states, there really are no laws preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; without uncensored federal protections, it is possible for a lesbian to get wedded on Sunday and then fired from her job on Monday, for example.


Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, challenged the court’s justices, saying if they determine to permit employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, they'll be “under Trump’s thumb,” since the Trump administration not only argues that sexual orientations should not be believed a protected class, although also has championed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.


Hayashi also mentioned that the arguments represented a moment for “particularly black and brown trans people to show the strength of the movements we have built,” noting his own 20-plus years working with LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.


Activist and supporter Ashlee Marie Preston agreed. “We cannot continue pretending that as soon as our rights are rolled back, Black trans ladies are not the opening to be impacted by these decisions,” mentioned any time as soon as she discussed. Preston discussed about her own past experience being fired from a job because of gender identity discrimination; she experienced homelessness, turned to survival sex work, and usued illegal narcotics following her former employer’s discrimination against her. She is hardly alone; according to the  National Center for Transgender Equality survey, one-third of trans Residents of the
U.S. Have experienced homelessness, while 12 percent report having done sex work at some point in their lives sort in attempt to have an income.


“We are here to take back our dignity. We are here to take back our respect. We are here to take back our lives,” Preston mentioned, to the crowd’s good applause. “If your feminism does not include black trans girls, it is trash.”


The court’s current makeup does not bode well for LGBTQ+ advocates, given that  Trump has assigned two conservative justices to the court, thereby cementing a lean towards the correct. According to transcripts released just hours soon following the arguments concluded, the court appeared divided in both the Bostock case (about gay personnel) and the Aimee Stephens case (about transgender staff. Justice Samuel Alito told attorneys for the LGBTQ+ staff that they are “trying to change the meaning of what Congress understood sex to mean in 1964” once it passed the federal Civil Rights Act. Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch claimed that a ruling to protect workers from discriminatory employers could cause “massive social upheaval,” nevertheless also mentioned that protecting LGBTQ+ rights should be a “legislative decision.” Such a legislative decision has been pursued for years in Congress by means of the introduction and reintroduction of the Equality Act, a law that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights law — although has nevertheless to be approved by the Senate.


Gregory Nevins, the senior counsel and employment fairness project director for Lambda Legal, mentioned in a statement emailed to MTV News that “we hopeful and there really are several reasons to be optimistic” soon after hearing comments from the Supreme Court justices. “We need the Court to clarify once and for all that discrimination against LGBTQ workers is illegal sex discrimination so that people everywhere can bring their whole selves to work and not be forced to hide,” Nevins mentioned. “If they just follow the text of the law that should be fairly easy.”


The court steps weren’t the only place to be able to see rallies on Tuesday. In New York City, First Lady Chirlane McCray, who has described herself as sexually fluid, led a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and the New York City Council in a protest at City Hall in solidarity with those on the ground in Washington, D.C. And for those located in other parts of the nation, a virtual town hall hosted by a coalition of advocacy groups and attorneys in the event will take place Tuesday night at 8 p.M. Attendees can sign up online.


However another side of America was also on display next to the LGBTQ+ advocates fighting for workplace equality. At a second rally near the court steps in Washington, D.C., Transphobic counter-protesters contained signs reading #SexNotGender and “protect fairness for women,” thereby ignoring transgender women’s company as girls. In a video captured by ABC News, speakers railed against transgender people and argued that corporation company founders should be allowed to “run their agencies in the way that they visualize fit,” which ostensibly includes discriminating against LGBTQ+ staff and firing them.


That crowd was largely drowned out by singing, because the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., Stood in the middle of the anti-trans rally and belted out the Star-Spangled Banner among other numbers. LGBTQ+ advocates continually shouted over the counter-protest speakers, chanting “trans girls are women” as a refutation to some transphobic counter-protester's t-shirts.


Later in the day, activists from ACT Up Philly and the HIV/AIDS nonprofit Housing Works staged a sit-in on the street, blocking traffic in an act of civil disobedience. On Twitter, the Washington Blade’s Michael K. Lavers and Out’s Phillip Picardi announced that capitol police had begun arresting protesters and dragging them into booking vans. Those remaining seated pumped their fists airborne and chanted, “No fear, no hate, no license to discriminate.” According to Housing Works, over 500 people participated in the civil disobedience, and at least 133 people were arrested.


After hearing today’s arguments, the Supreme Court’s nine justices will decide whether or not the federal ban on sex discrimination in employment effectively bans anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination at large. That decision is likely to be reported in late spring — and no matter what the final ruling, will have a major impact on LGBTQ+ people’s safety, and their right to self-determination.