You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Brief
  3. Can LGBT People Be Legally Fir…

Can LGBT People Be Legally Fired? U.S. Supreme Court Considers Three Cases That Could Take America Backward

Authors

Movement Advancement Project

Share

Bluesky Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com Bluesky

Recommended Citation

Movement Advancement Project. July 2019.Can LGBT People Be Legally Fired? U.S. Supreme Court Considers Three Cases That Could Take America Backwardhttps://mapresearch.org/brief/scotus-2019-titlevii/ June 12, 2026.

Supporting Content

Can LGBT People Be Legally Fired?
Download
Infographic
Download

In October 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in three cases that could determine whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people will continue to have protections under federal nondiscrimination law, or whether it would be legal under federal law for employers to fire LGBT people just for who they are or whom they love.

While marriage equality was covered heavily in the news, many people today have no idea that the Supreme Court could soon say that companies are free under federal law to fire LGBT people. If the Court rules that LGBT people are not protected by existing federal workplace protections, anti-LGBT opponents will rapidly use the same legal reasoning to work to attempt to overturn critical federal protections in housing, healthcare, credit, education and more. In short, LGBT people could soon find themselves living in a nation where federal law says it is legal for them to be denied a job, fired, discriminated against at school, denied a loan, rejected by a doctor, and evicted from an apartment, simply because they are LGBT.

This brief describes the cases, how the Court could rule, and what the implications of the Court’s rulings could mean for LGBT people not just at work but in all areas of life.

Skip to PDF content

Related resources

Nondiscrimination Laws
Non-discrimination laws protect LGBTQ people from employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, and other discrimination.
Map
Employment Nondiscrimination
Employment non-discrimination laws protect people from being unfairly fired, not hired, or discriminated against in the workplace by private employers on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Map
LGBTQ People
LGBTQ people in the United States have families, work hard to earn a living, pay taxes, and serve their communities and their country. MAP offers a collection of resources addressing the many aspects of LGBTQ people’s lives.
Policy Overview
Housing

LGBTQ people are our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. When it comes to having a safe place to live, they should be treated like anyone else and not be discriminated against. Yet LGBTQ people report high rates of housing discrimination, including being denied a rental unit, charged more, or harassed

Policy Overview
The LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial (LEAF) Survey
This report by MAP and CLEAR shines new light on the financial experiences and issues faced by LGBTQI+ people in the U.S. and fills in critical gaps left by many federal and financial industry surveys that fail to include LGBTQI+ demographics.
Report
The LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial Survey (LEAF) Infographics

The following infographics are drawn from the report The LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial (LEAF) Survey: Understanding the Financial Lives of LGBTQI+ People in the United States, authored by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement and Research (CLEAR).

Infographic
LGBTQ-Owned Small Businesses in 2021

Using data from the Federal Reserve Banks’ annual Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR) and the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) have created a first-of-its-kind look at the financial health and needs of LGBTQ-owned small businesses. Key findings include: —LGBTQ businesses were equally

Report
The Need for the Equality Act

This infographics presents the current patchwork of nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people that exists in housing, public accommodations, education, credit, and health care.

Infographic
A U.S. Census First: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Questions Included in Household Pulse Survey
Blog Post

Join Our Community

Get research updates, stories, and ways to support.

Subscribe