Yesterday Atlas Minor pointed out the following.
Yesterday the Supreme Court confirmed that civil rights apply to people who are gay, bisexual, or transgender. It’s insane that such a question even needed to be litigated, yet most American states allowed people to be fired because of who they love.
James A. Reeves
I’m thrilled by this decision, and like Reeves, and I think it is wrong for it to be possible to deny a person employeement for a choice about who they love or how their body expresses gender.
The Supreme Court has now said it is illegal to fire people for being gay or transgender. This is good. I’m sure this decision will have a positive effect.
However, even with the supreme court decision, I suspect companies will still “terminate” the employment of people because the company does not approve of what that person does with their body. Of course, the official reason the company will place on the paperwork will be that the employee was late too many times, or the employee failed to “perform necessary duties” (no explanation given beyond that), etc. The real reason, the reason behind whatever is printed on the official papers, will be discrimination.
My question is: Will a person who is living paycheck to paycheck have the means (i.e. the money) to mount a legal dispute and hold the company accountable for discrimination when discrimination happens?
I hope that employees, regardless of their particular identities, to create good powerful unions that protect their members from being fired for any discriminatory reason.
The Supreme Court decision is the start, it provides solid legal gound on which to stand. But just standing there is not enough. I think that organizing and forming unions could be the necessary follow-through. Just imagine what a principled and effective union could do now in the wake of this Supreme Court decision!