Trump’s administration has said that US LGBT employees aren’t protected from discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) unexpectedly intervened in a private employment discrimination case, reminding the court that gay employees are not protected from discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The DOJ filed a brief claiming that Title VII of the act, which bans workplace discrimination on the grounds of sex, should not be interpreted as extending to sexual orientation.
Writing about the case, the Justice Department said, “The sole question here is whether, as matter of law, Title VII reaches sexual orientation discrimination.”
“It does not, as has been settled for decades.”
“Any efforts to amend Title VII’s scope should be directed to Congress rather than the courts.”
“As the courts have long held, discrimination based on sexual orientation does not fall within Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination because it does not involve disparate treatment of men and women.”
The news comes after it was announced that Donald Trump had banned transgender people from serving in the US military.
Trump declared that transgender people would not be welcome in “any capacity” in the military, making the announcement on his Twitter account.
He tweeted, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military.”
He continued, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”