Count me as one who was surprised by this Supreme Court decision. With five conservatives and four liberals on the court, I had expected equal rights progress to be suspended, if not sent backwards. I am happy that I was wrong.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said it was illegal for an employer to fire an employee because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In other words, you can't fire someone because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
Even more surprising for me, was that Justice Gorsuch (a Trump appointee) joined the liberals (along with Chief Justice Roberts) in the decision -- and Gorsuch was the justice who wrote the decision. Here is part of what he wrote:
"Judges are not free to overlook plain statutory commands on the strength of nothing more than suppositions about intentions or guesswork about expectations," Gorsuch wrote. "In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee's sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law."
This is a huge victory for those who believe all citizens should have equal rights. But the war against discrimination is not over. A battle was won, but more remains to be done for many groups.