We can no longer be fired because of who we are (opinion)

Editor’s Note: John D. Sutter is a CNN contributor and a National Geographic Explorer. The court, in a 6-3 opinion, recognized that the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s protections against discrimination based on “sex” also apply to gay and transgender people. Last year, the Trump administration argued in an amicus brief that protections against “sex” discrimination don’t apply to people in same-sex relationships. The Supreme Court’s decision to do so on Monday, he wrote, amounted the court creating that legislation — ” more brazen abuse of our authority to interpret statutes is hard to recall.” “If every single living American had been surveyed in 1964,” he wrote, “it would have been hard to find any who thought that discrimination because of sex meant discrimination because of sexual orientation – not to mention gender identity, a concept that was essentially unknown at the time.” It’s staggering, especially now, to read anyone attempt to cite 1960s public opinion on discrimination as a justification for taking a narrow stance on civil rights in 2020. This comes against the backdrop of two recent killings of black transgender women – and the Trump administration’s move to effectively allow the health care system to discriminate against transgender people.