SCOTUS Rules that LGBTQ People Cannot be Fired on the Basis of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

August 10, 2021

In a landmark ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends employment protections to LGBTQ employees, making it unconstitutional to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The victory marks a watershed moment for the LGBTQ movement, in a year otherwise marred by a global pandemic. In the wake of the decision, with the help of grantees like GLBTQ Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), many states around the country have applied the ruling to their existing nondiscrimination laws.

A few months earlier in April, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Values Act, making Virginia the first state in the South to enact comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.