USA: deconstructing language

In mid-June, with a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, also includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

The decision, Bostock vs Clayton County, involved three cases. In two of them, a social worker and a skydiving instructor claimed they were fired for being gay. The third case involved the firing of a funeral home employee (of Harris Funeral Homes) who, after being hired as a man, identified and presented as a woman.

It was expected that the decision would hinge on whether or not the word ‘sex’ should be limited to a biological understanding or expanded to include the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity. The lawyers for the defence argued that when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, they had no sense that the word ‘sex’ meant anything other than biological categories. Therefore, ruling for the plaintiffs would amount to re-writing the Civil Rights Act, something only Congress can do.