On July 27, the same day President Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit arguing that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act did not — and should not — provide legal protection against discrimination based on one’s sexual identity.
“The United States submits that the en banc Court should reaffirm its settled precedent holding, consistent with the longstanding position of the Department of Justice, that Title VII does not reach discrimination based on sexual orientation,” the document reads.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act officially prohibits discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” The Department of Justice’s brief interprets that information with the following: “The essential element of sex discrimination under Title VII is that employees of one sex must be treated worse than similarly situated employees of the other sex, and sexual orientation discrimination simply does not have that effect.”
You Need to Know What the Department of Justice Just Did to LGBTQ Rights
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