SAN DIEGO — The local San Diego LGBTQ community is celebrating the Supreme Court decision released Monday that confirms that LGBTQ employees are protected from discrimination by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Fernando López, Executive Director for San Diego Pride said "today is a huge victory for the LGBTQ community, but still more work needs to be done."
"The unfortunate thing about LGBT rights and protections is that they can change based on the city, county, or state that you live in. So, we're super lucky to live in the state of California for we have a whole host of policies and protections, but what we're talking about is the need for full federal protection -- like banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth," López said.
The decision makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, and now also covers sexual orientation and transgender status.
The 6-3 opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The landmark ruling will extend protections to millions of workers nationwide and have a great impact here in San Diego because while California also already offers many protections in the workplace, that did not necessarily apply to federal workers. Now, those federal workers,which would include the many members in the military who are here in San Diego, would be protected in their workplace.
According to López, the next step is to get The Equality Act passed in Congress. It would amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, and many other rights -- all on a federal level.
According to UCLA's Williams Institute, the LGBTQ community is made of up of approximately one million workers who identify as transgender and 7.1 million lesbian, gay and bisexual workers. Twenty-two states, plus the District of Columbia have statutes protecting workers based on sexual orientation, but Monday’s Supreme Court ruling would cover employees on a federal level.
A virtual townhall and rally took place Monday afternoon and it was the first time all LGBTQ groups across the country will be part of one massive event.
On Tuesday, June 16, at 6 p.m. San Diego LGBTQ leaders and community activists will hold a livestream rally online to look at the decision from a San Diego perspective.