Supreme Court rules in favor of civil rights law protecting gay and lesbian workers

Photo by Brianna Swank

The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3 decision that existing anti-discrimination laws that prevent job discrimination based on sexual orientation. The now federal law also extends protection to transgender workers.

In the majority opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, states that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based on sex also protects gay and lesbian workers from discrimination.

This decision is huge because the majority of the Supreme Court is conservative and even more so because some of those judges were appointed by President Trump - including Gorsuch. This is also coming from the fact that the Trump administration argued the law did not cover sexual orientation.

What I'm more interested in that one of the main arguments to rule in favor of allowing employers to not hire workers based on their sexual orientation is that it infringed on religious rights. Essentially it was the belief by some that forcing Christian business owners to hire people like gay or lesbians was illegal because it hinders their ability to practice their faith.

Of course, I personally believe that the bible is open to interpretation and while people are allowed to have their opinions, I do not believe the court allowing owners to do this would have been constitutional. We have a clear separation of church and state law and by ruling in favor of religious business owners clearly establishes Christianity as a national religion.

I'd also like to point out a passage in the bible:

Matthew 8:5-13 - A centurion soldier asks Jesus to heal his "pais," who has been stuck at home paralyzed and suffering. Jesus says to him "Shall I come and heal him?"

Pais is the greek word commonly used for younger lovers in a same-sex relationship. So instead of turning this man away because it was against his religion, he went to heal him.

Not only does our government prevent the establishment of one religion over the other, the bible also has passages that talk about gay partners.

Think about that today.

Comments

Democrats introduce overhaul of police reform

Today house democrats introduced t he Justice in Policing Act, which would hold police departments across the nation more accountable for their actions by stripping away some of their protections. The legislation would also c reate a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police chokeholds. The legislation would also revise the federal criminal police misconduct statute to make it easier to prosecute officers who are knowingly involved in reckless misconduct and seek to provide greater transparency on police behavior according to the AP News. To put it bluntly, as much as I want this legislation to get make ground, it is a long shot pipe dream to get put into law. This is because the senate is majority Republican and will more than likely shoot it down or have it stripped or include poison pill amendments to it, despite Senator Lindsey Graham and Majority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell vowing to look at the issues. What do you think? -Alex

Statehood, the coronavirus and how the U.S. sets the standard for policing

With everything going on in the world, it's easy to lose track of the important issues going on in the world. For this edition of Articles that Make You Smarter, I wanted to share three articles that would give some perspective on three major issues in America. I hope you read and enjoy: Why statehood matters: The House of Representatives approved a bill that would recognize Washington D.C. as the 51st state of the country. While the Senate will more than likely shoot the bill down, here's an article by The Gaurdian that explains everything surrounding the bid for statehood: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/25/washington-dc-statehood-bid-house The United States and Policing: What's going on in America with policing doesn't just happen in a bubble. Here's a great article by The New Republic about how our country sets the standard for policing across the world: https://newrepublic.com/article/158297/america-exports-police-violence-around-world A new surge

Is the dismantling of our police force a good idea?

It seemed like an impossible task, like carrying water in your bare hands up a mountain and trying not to spill any. Still, protestors marching in Minneapolis have started to make massive waves in how the justice system works in their city. As reported by The New York Times , nine members of the Minneapolis City Council vowed yesterday to dismantle the city's police force in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police officer's two weeks ago. Nine members of the council announced during a gathering that the city's policing system was beyond reform and would instead focus on implementing a community-based system of justice. While massive, it is unclear right now what specifically that will look like. What makes this especially interesting is just before this announcement, the city's Mayor Jacob Frey hesitated and then rejected the idea of abolishing the police department when asked at a rally on Saturday. While the council does control

The Statesmen

Search This Blog