AARP Hearing Center
In a landmark decision for the rights of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The 6-3 ruling decided that the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ban employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against workers on the basis of sex also protect workers who are LGBT.
"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,” Justice Neil Gorsuch writes in the majority's opinion. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids."
The legal victory arrives at a moment when the gay pride celebrations that normally happen every June in cities across the nation have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some gay pride events are being held virtually this year.
The Supreme Court's ruling will have a significant impact for people age 50 and older. AARP and AARP Foundation joined an amicus brief in support of the LGBT workers who were fired in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, a case the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. AARP Foundation Litigation's brief noted that “one in five older LGBT adults reported recent involuntary job loss due at least in part to their perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, and older LGBT workers postpone retirement at a higher rate than the general population, likely due to a lifetime of economic disadvantage.”
AARP has more than 900,000 self-identified LGBT members.