DOJ files amicus brief that says Title VII does not protect sexual orientationBy Diane Ruggiero and Madison Park, CNN Updated 12:47 PM ET, Thu July 27, 2017 (CNN)The Justice Department filed an amicus brief Wednesday saying that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not cover employment "discrimination based on sexual orientation."
The DOJ filed the brief in the case of Donald Zarda, who had
filed suit against his former employer Altitude Express in a
case that questions whether sexual orientation is included
in Title VII's protections.
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on
race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
Zarda was a skydiving instructor who said he was fired after
disclosing his sexual orientation to a customer. He died in
a skydiving accident before the case went to trial, and
executors of his estate have continued the lawsuit on his
behalf.
"The sole question here is whether, as a matter of law,
Title VII reaches sexual orientation discrimination. It does
not, as has been settled for decades. Any efforts to amend
Title VII's scope should be directed to Congress rather than
the courts," according to the DOJ's brief.
It concluded "that Title VII does not prohibit
discrimination because of sexual orientation."
The American Civil Liberties Union blasted the
DOJ's position as a "gratuitous and
extraordinary attack on LGBT people's civil
rights."
"Fortunately, courts will decide whether the
Civil Rights Act protects LGBT people, not an
Attorney General and a White House that are
hell-bent on playing politics with people's
lives," said James Esseks, director of the
ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, in a statement. "We
are confident that the courts will side with
equality and the people."
The DOJ under former President Barack Obama had
never gone all the way toward unequivocal
affirmative support of sexual orientation being
covered under Title VII in lawsuits. It simply
allowed the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, the federal agency charged with
protecting workers against job discrimination,
to make the arguments without incident.
Lower federal courts have been split on this
issue for years.
Most recently, in April, the 7th Circuit Court
of Appeals in Chicago ruled that the Civil
Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination
against LGBT employees. The plaintiff in that
case had successfully argued that a school had
violated Title VII when it denied her
employment.
The ruling conflicted with a
different appellate court ruling -- in the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals -- from March that
found that Title VII does not bar claims of
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
CNN's Jessica Jordan and Laura Jarrett contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/doj-amicus-brief-title-vii-sexual-orientation/index.html |