Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Major LGBT Discrimination Case

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a major gay rights case that will determine whether federal law bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

At issue is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Lower courts have disagreed whether “sex” encompasses sexual orientation and gender identity. 

It could be the biggest gay rights decision since the high court in 2015 legalized gay marriage nationwide and could have a major impact on employment practices and, potentially, religious freedom disputes. 

Oral arguments will be held during the next term. 

Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“These are important policy questions that the people have the right to decide through their elected officials,” said Jim Campbell, senior counsel of the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). “Unelected officials – whether bureaucrats or judges – don’t have the power to make these choices for us.”

The Supreme Court agreed to take up three cases, including one involving R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, which was sued by a former employee who is biologically male but identifies as female and wanted to dress as a woman at work. That former employee is Aimee Stephens (formerly known…