U.S. SC rules civil rights laws protects gay, transgender employees from discrimination

U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a decision on Monday that gay and transgender employees are protected by the nation's civil rights laws against employer discrimination, reported Xinhua.

The 6-3 ruling came after a trio of cases had asked the U.S. justices to decide whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination on the basis of "sex," applies to gay and transgender people.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion for the six-member majority, said that "an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex."

"Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids," Gorsuch added.

Gorsuch was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.

Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision.