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In this Nike commercial, they show how women are negatively portrayed in society through sports. However, by the end of this commercial they reveal how women are positively changing how they are defined in society.

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This image provides a view on how society is shaping little boys into the stereotypical men that they are today.

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Recently, "they" has taken the place of "it" and was made into a nonbinary pronoun by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

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Though singular ‘they’ is old, ‘they’ as a nonbinary pronoun is new—and useful

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Iceland has taken a step in the right direction towards gender equality, by making equal pay a law and teaching children young the importance of equality for all.

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Gender inequality is one of the most persistent evils of our times | CNN

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It’s been almost two years since millions of women across the world used the simple, yet powerful, hashtag #MeToo. During this time, women have exposed, in various ways, the everyday nature of gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination. Drawing from the origins of the term Me Too, the movement has also drawn attention to other forms of structural inequality, involving race and class, and the persistence of multiple discrimination.

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Discrimination is still very evident today, and a woman by the name of Aimee Stephens has become a victim of it. This issue will impact the entire LGBTQ community in huge ways.

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Aimee Stephens took months to compose a letter to her employer in July 2013. It read:

"With the support of my loving wife, I have decided to become the person that my mind already is. I cannot begin to describe the shame and suffering that I have lived with. At the end of my vacation on August 26, 2013, I will return to work as my true self, Aimee Australia Stephens, in appropriate business attire."

These words propelled Stephens into the heart of a legal case soon to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court ─ a potentially landmark case for the future of LGBTQ rights in this country.

Stephens had worked for six years as a funeral director at R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes in Garden City, Michigan. Through those years, she dressed and presented herself as a man. At home, she dressed as she knew herself to be ─ a woman.

After she presented the letter to her boss, the funeral home fired Stephens and a legal battle began. The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Stephens' firing violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

Attorneys for the funeral home filed an appeal. And on October 8th, Aimee Stephens' case will be argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Jay Kaplan is an attorney with the ACLU of Michigan, which is representing Stephens in her case. He hopes that this case will confirm discrimination based on someone's gender identity can be classified as sex discrimination under Title VII.

"I think even if you were a justice that takes a textualist approach and decides just based on the words, it's very clear, particularly in Aimee's situation, that she was terminated from her job because of her sex, because of who she is as a transgender woman," said Kaplan.

John Bursch disagrees with Kaplan's interpretation of the law. Bursch is senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom. He scheduled to defend Harris Funeral Homes in front of the court on October 8th.

Bursch says that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to classify discrimination against a transgender person as sex discrimination sets it apart from the other federal circuit courts.

"Over the 50 years since Title VII was passed, every single other circuit at different times had said the exact opposite," Bursch says. "That a claim that someone makes that they were treated different because of their transgender status 一 that is their internal sense of gender and the way they want to present their gender to the outside world 一 is not sex discrimination."

That is why, Bursch says, Congress has repeatedly considered bills that would amend Title VII to include people discriminated against based on their identity as a transgender person.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Stephens, Bursch says, it would set a precedent for how the word "sex" was interpreted in federal law. He claims that doing so would have widespread ramifications, and could jeopardize the fairness of women in sports, among other things.

Kaplan says that the "snowball effect" argument from conservatives is disingenuous.

"There are millions of transgender people who participate in activities in daily life, including sports activities, in accordance with their gender identity. But that's not what the court has to address here," says Kaplan.

Kaplan says the the worst case scenario would be if the Supreme Court leaves it up to the states to decide if transgender people can claim sex discrimination in court. Michigan is one of 29 states that do not have laws explicitly barring employers from discriminating against LGBTQ employees, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Aimee Stephens says the fact that someone can be fired from their job or denied housing based on their gender identity is wrong.

"We're not asking for anything special, we just want the same human rights that everybody else has," says Stephens. "And so far, we don't have those, we've been denied, and the way things appear, they would just like to erase us all together."
This post was written by production assistant Catherine Nouhan.

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U.S. Supreme Court will decide Michigan transgender woman's employment discrimination case

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Aimee Stephens took months to compose a letter to her employer in July 2013. It read: "With the support of my loving wife, I have decided to become the person that my mind already is. I cannot begin to describe the shame and suffering that I have lived with.

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The Resident is a television series that featured an episode on the true story of a black woman who wasn't given proper care because of the color of her skin. The doctor that cared for her did not put her as his priority and unfortunately it led to her death.

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Inspired By A True Story: Charles Johnson | Season 2 Ep. 20 | THE RESIDENT

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A Mississippi politician would not let a female reporter travel with him unless there was another man because he wanted to uphold his reputation. Just because she was a woman he assumed everyone would be thinking about the two of them in a sexual way.

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A local journalist covering the governor's race in Mississippi has encountered an obstacle, and that obstacle has become a national news story. Republican Robert Foster refused to let reporter Larrison Campbell follow him for a day on the campaign trail unless she brought along a male colleague. Earlier today, Foster explained his decision to NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

ROBERT FOSTER: Perception is reality in this world. And I did not want there to be a perception that I was riding with another female and that something was - promiscuous going on or anything like that.

SHAPIRO: Now let's hear from the reporter, Larrison Campbell of Mississippi Today.

Welcome.

LARRISON CAMPBELL: Thank you so much for having me, Ari.

SHAPIRO: You've covered Robert Foster before. He's a state representative. You actually broke the story that he was running for governor. So were you surprised when he said you could not shadow his campaign without a male colleague?

CAMPBELL: Oh, I was completely surprised. I mean, it was so out of left field. I kind of didn't think it was going to be real. So, you know, my editor and I talked about it. We thought it was a pretty sexist request, so we turned him down.

And we said, but look, you know, if you're concerned about the appearance of impropriety, I'll wear my press badge all day. You know, like, I won't, like, allow myself to be photographed sitting next to you. I assumed that that would be OK. And they actually drew a very bright line. So neither one of us were sort of willing to step over that.

SHAPIRO: He says he's protecting his reputation. In that interview he did with NPR earlier today, he told us people make assumptions.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

FOSTER: With the #MeToo movement especially, there's an opportunity there. I'm not going to ever put myself in a position where a female could come back and say that I made advances on her or I tried to assault her when there's no witness there to say that that did not happen.

SHAPIRO: So I hear your reaction there.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMPBELL: Yeah. I mean, like, can we just dismantle the sexism behind this right now? Let's talk about the perception of impropriety, you know, this idea that if a woman is photographed with a man, it could be perceived as, you know, an inappropriate relationship. Well, first of all, that only happens if you see this reporter who's doing her job as a sexual object first and a reporter second. That's what he's saying.

And second of all - I spoke to him earlier about this, and he had this line. He said, my truck - which is what we would have been riding in - my rules. That's kind of how he laid it out there. Well, it's his truck and his rules. It's also his problem. Like, he's the one who's uncomfortable here. And putting the burden on me to bring along a male chaperone so he feels comfortable, I mean, if that's not sexism, I'm not sure what is.

SHAPIRO: He describes this as the Billy Graham rule. It's also been called the Mike Pence rule after the vice president. On Twitter, Foster described the rule as something he and his wife had agreed to, quote, to "avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage." Then he said, I'm sorry Ms. Campbell does not share these views, but my decision was out of respect of my wife. How do you respond to that?

CAMPBELL: I mean, again, you're putting this on women, you know. You're saying my wife needs this to feel comfortable. I mean, what he's saying is, you know, he has this value system, and it doesn't jibe with the current workplace dynamics which are that women are, you know, capable of and do as much as men.

SHAPIRO: Have you heard of any male journalists being denied access to a powerful woman under similar circumstances?

CAMPBELL: That's a great question. No, I haven't. I mean, think about it. Our state treasurer is a woman. Her name is Lynn Fitch. And she's running for attorney general right now. And I cannot imagine how people would react if she said to one of my male colleagues, I'm sorry, you can't ride along with me unless you bring a woman along. I mean, people would say, you're not fit for the job.

And honestly, is this candidate fit for the job? Can he be a governor? You know, look at our current governor. Some of - his top policy director, his top attorney, they're both women. Is somebody capable of governing a state if they can't be alone in a room with a woman?

SHAPIRO: Do you think this experience makes it tougher for you to keep following this story and covering him as a part of your beat?

CAMPBELL: I sure hope not. Look. It is strange to be on this side of the story. But, I mean, the fact is this is my job. I'm supposed to cover politicians. And, you know, one of the reasons that we decided to run a story as opposed to just letting this happen, you know, this is a revealing thing about this candidate. And it's a weird turn that this campaign took, but it is the evolution of this campaign. And I plan to stay on the story.

SHAPIRO: Larrison Campbell of the nonprofit digital news outlet Mississippi Today, thanks for speaking with us today.

CAMPBELL: Thanks so much for having me, Ari.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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Mississippi Politician Refuses To Let Female Reporter Travel Alone With Him

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: A local journalist covering the governor's race in Mississippi has encountered an obstacle, and that obstacle has become a national news story. Republican Robert Foster refused to let reporter Larrison Campbell follow him for a day on the campaign trail unless she brought along a male colleague.

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I found this image while I was scrolling on twitter, and this just goes to show how women are still being judged by what they wear.

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As "white" people we are taught to understand that racism is wrong, but we are not taught to see how our privilege affects those around us. This documentary by Chelsea Handler shows her traveling around the world to understand the viewpoints and more from others.

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Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea | Official Trailer | Netflix

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People are taught to use the bathroom that has their assigned gender on the wall next to it, but what happens if you are transgender? This school was recently discriminating against a young transsexual male who wanted to use the mens restroom.

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The ruling is an important victory for transgender rights advocates as legal battles over school bathroom policies continue to play out across the country.

Gavin Grimm, center, spoke with his lawyer before the start of a news conference in Norfolk, Va., last month. A judge ruled in Mr. Grimm's favor on Friday. Credit... Kristen Zeis/The Daily Press, via Associated Press

A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school district's policy barring a male transgender student from using the boys' bathrooms violates the United States Constitution, an important victory for transgender rights advocates in a closely watched case.

In a 28-page ruling, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of the United States District Court in Norfolk, Va., said that the school district's policy violated the rights of Gavin Grimm, a former student.

"There is no question that the board's policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender nonconformity," Judge Wright Allen wrote. "Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go."

School bathroom policies vary, sometimes district by district, across the country. Many in recent years have faced contentious legal challenges over which bathrooms transgender students should be allowed to use. Mr. Grimm's lawsuit against Gloucester County Public Schools in Virginia is among the best known.

Judge Wright Allen's ruling echoes those in several other courts that have recently ruled in favor of allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender they identify with.

Yet nationwide, the question is far from resolved. The Supreme Court earlier this year chose not take up an appeal in a similar case. And it is not clear that the Supreme Court would take up any such cases until there are conflicting opinions in lower appellate courts, according to Joshua Block, Mr. Grimm's lawyer. To date, there have not been any, he said.

Mr. Grimm, 20, attended Gloucester High School from 2013 to 2017. The Gloucester County school board had maintained that Mr. Grimm's "biological gender" was female, prohibiting administrators from allowing him to use the boys' restrooms.

Mr. Grimm, who wrote anessay in The New York Times in June about his experiences growing up, said in an interview that Friday's ruling was "wonderful."

"It was certainly a victory for the trans community," he said.

Mr. Block said the ruling applied only to Mr. Grimm, but it would most likely become "persuasive precedent" in other cases. He said the school district's policy was still in effect.

"If another student is subjected to this discriminatory policy, that student can go to court, and has this decision to point to right away," said Mr. Block, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "Other school districts in Virginia and around the country have been looking to see what happens with this case."

A lawyer for Gloucester County Public Schools declined to comment on the decision on Friday.

A federal judge in Oregon last year said forcing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms inconsistent with their gender identity would harm transgender students. An appellate court in Pennsylvania ruled in July 2018 in favor of a policy that supported transgender students, despite a challenge from other students who said sharing bathrooms with transgender students would infringe on their rights to privacy, among other laws.

"There has been striking uniformity over the past three years where judges who are confronted with real trans students, and real evidence, are finding that there is simply no basis for treating boys and girls who are transgender differently than other boys and girls," Mr. Block said.

Judge Wright Allen's ruling on Friday culminates a lengthy legal process in Mr. Grimm's case.

He sued in July 2015. The school board argued in essence that its policy, adopted in 2014, was valid because Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 allows for claims only on the basis of sex, rather than gender identity, and that its policy did not violate the equal protection clause.

The case took a complicated path through the courts.

Partway through the proceedings, in March 2017, the Trump administration rescinded protections for transgender students.

The Supreme Court then vacated a prior appeals court decision in favor of Mr. Grimm and sent the case back to the federal appeals court in Virginia for further consideration in light of the new guidance from the Trump administration. The case was later returned to the District Court.

In May 2018, Judge Wright Allen, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, denied a motion by the school board to dismiss the lawsuit.

Gillian Branstetter, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Transgender Equality, called Friday's ruling "extremely important."

"For many people, in a cultural sense, the Gavin Grimm case is the case, and not merely the case governing the right of transgender students, but the case centering on transgender rights, period," she said.

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Virginia Schools' Bathroom Rule Violates Transgender Rights, U.S. Judge Says

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The ruling is an important victory for transgender rights advocates as legal battles over school bathroom policies continue to play out across the country. A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school district's policy barring a male transgender student from using the boys' bathrooms violates the United States Constitution, an important victory for transgender rights advocates in a closely watched case.

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It is already hard enough for some of the LGTBQ community to get around in public, but it gets that much harder when they are handicapped.

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Difficulties with Employment for Female Convicts 

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Difficulties with Employment for Female Convicts 

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The ALCU Women's Rights Project and the ALCU State Affiliates are taking a stance and want to help those affected. The number of women in the prison system is rising, this means more are going to struggle to get back on their feet.

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In the last three decades, the "war on drugs," mandatory minimum sentences, and over-criminalization have had devastating and disparate effects on people of color and low income people, including rising numbers of women.

This year, nearly 700,000 people will leave prison.

One in five U.S. adults has a criminal record on file with the states.

Racial disparities in the criminal justice system persist: African Americans constituted 900,000 of the 2.2 million incarcerated Americans as of 2007. As of 2005, African American women were more than three times as likely as white women to be in prison or jail, and Hispanic women were 69% more likely.

A Los Angeles survey found that over 60% of employers would "probably not" or "definitely not" be willing to hire an individual with a criminal record.

The number of women with convictions (especially low-level drug-related convictions) has skyrocketed. From 1985 to 2007, the number of women in prison increased at nearly double the rate of men.

People with legal histories face dramatic barriers to gaining employment

People with records face widespread employment discrimination. Criminal records have become easily accessible and widely available to employers. For a few dollars, employers can download them from the internet. Now a big business for hundreds of companies, background reports are often riddled with errors, and people find it difficult to correct all copies of a report containing incorrect records, or records that should have been sealed or expunged.
A handful of companies manages criminal history databases with more than 100 million criminal records. 80% of large employers conduct criminal background checks.

Many states impose statutory bans on people with certain convictions working, for example, in nursing, childcare, and home health care - fields in which many poor women and women of color are concentrated. People who have worked with children or the elderly for decades can find themselves abruptly disqualified due to even old and minor convictions.

The EEOC and some courts have held that employers' bans on hiring people with convictions or arrests can violate Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the absence of a "business necessity," because such bans have a disproportionate impact on people of color. Notwithstanding EEOC's policy statements, the employment rights of people with legal histories have rarely been enforced in court.

The ACLU Women's Rights Project, in conjunction with ACLU state affiliates around the country, is launching an initiative to tackle the ways in which people with criminal records are barred from rebuilding their lives through employment.
HOW WE CAN HELP:

Enforce individuals' rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the EEOC's policies forbidding employers from refusing to hire ex-offenders by bringing cases to the EEOC and to the courts.

Challenge statutory and regulatory bars that prevent people with criminal records from working in particular fields, especially fields that employ many low-income women and women of color.

If you or someone you know has experienced job discrimination because of a criminal conviction, please share your experience with us by filling out this confidential survey.

For more information about employment discrimination and collateral consequences, contact:

ACLU Women's Rights Project
125 Broad Street, 18th Fl.
New York, NY 10004
(212) 549-2644
womensrights@aclu.org

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Employment Discrimination Against Women with Criminal Convictions

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In the last three decades, the "war on drugs," mandatory minimum sentences, and over-criminalization have had devastating and disparate effects on people of color and low income people, including rising numbers of women. This year, nearly 700,000 people will leave prison. One in five U.S. adults has a criminal record on file with the states.

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Throughout our history black women have been discriminated against, and ever since they have been working their pay has been lower than white women and men. Unfortunately, this statistic still stands true today.

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The black woman's experience in America provides arguably the most overwhelming evidence of the persistent and ongoing drag from gender and race discrimination on the economic fate of workers and families.

Black women's labor market position is the result of employer practices and government policies that disadvantaged black women relative to white women and men. Negative representations of black womanhood have reinforced these discriminatory practices and policies. Since the era of slavery, the dominant view of black women has been that they should be workers, a view that contributed to their devaluation as mothers with caregiving needs at home. African-American women's unique labor market history and current occupational status reflects these beliefs and practices.

Compared with other women in the United States, black women have always had the highest levels of labor market participation regardless of age, marital status, or presence of children at home. In 1880, 35.4 percent of married black women and 73.3 percent of single black women were in the labor force compared with only 7.3 percent of married white women and 23.8 percent of single white women. Black women's higher participation rates extended over their lifetimes, even after marriage, while white women typically left the labor force after marriage.

Differences in black and white women's labor participation were due not only to the societal expectation of black women's gainful employment but also to labor market discrimination against black men which resulted in lower wages and less stable employment compared to white men. Consequently, married black women have a long history of being financial contributors-even co-breadwinners-to two-parent households because of black men's precarious labor market position.

Black women's main jobs historically have been in low-wage agriculture and domestic service. 1 Even after migration to the north during the 20th century, most employers would only hire black women in domestic service work. 2 Revealingly, although whites have devalued black women as mothers to their own children, black women have been the most likely of all women to be employed in the low-wage women's jobs that involve cooking, cleaning, and caregiving even though this work is associated with mothering more broadly.

Until the 1970s, employers' exclusion of black women from better-paying, higher-status jobs with mobility meant that they had little choice but to perform private domestic service work for white families. The 1970s was also the era when large numbers of married white women began to enter into the labor force and this led to a marketization of services previously performed within the household, including care and food services. Black women continue to be overrepresented in service jobs. Nearly a third (28 percent) of black women are employed in service jobs compared with just one-fifth of white women.

Discriminatory public policies have reinforced the view of black women as workers rather than as mothers and contributed to black women's economic precarity. This has been most evident with protective welfare policies that enabled poor lone white mothers to stay at home and provide care for their children since the early 20th century. These policies were first implemented at the state level with Mother's Pensions and then at the national level with the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. Up until the 1960s, caseworkers excluded most poor black women from receiving cash assistance because they expected black women to be employed moms and not stay-at-home moms like white women. 3

This exclusion meant that for most of the history of welfare, the state actively undermined the well-being of black families by ensuring that black women would be in the labor force as low-wage caregivers for white families. This helped to secure the well-being of white families and alleviated white women of having to do this work. The state simultaneously undermined the well-being of black families by denying black mothers the cash assistance that they needed to support their children and leaving black women with no other option but to work for very low wages. Indeed, the backlash against poor black moms receiving cash assistance eventually culminated in the dismantling of the AFDC program and the enactment of TANF-a program with strict work requirements. 4

Because of discriminatory employer and government policies against black men and women, black mothers with school-age children have always been more likely to be in the labor force compared with other moms. Today, 78 percent of black moms with children are employed compared with an average of just 66 percent of white, Asian American, and Latinx moms. 5

Although black women have a longer history of sustained employment compared with other women, in 2017, the median annual earnings for full-time year-round black women workers was just over $36,000-an amount 21 percent lower than that of white women, reflecting black women's disproportionate employment in low-wage service and minimum and sub-minimum wage jobs. Black families, however, are more reliant on women's incomes than other families are since 80 percent of black mothers are breadwinners in their families.

Despite black women's importance as breadwinners, the state has compounded the lack of protections afforded black mothers by failing to protect black women as workers. 6 In fact, state policies have often left black women vulnerable to workplace exploitation by excluding them from various worker protections. New Deal minimum wage, overtime pay, and collective bargaining legislation excluded the main sectors where black women worked-domestic service and farming. Although there have been inclusions since then, these sectors still lack full access to worker protections.

The legacy of black women's employment in industries that lack worker protections has continued today since black women are concentrated in low-paying, inflexible service occupations that lack employer-provided retirement plans, health insurance, paid sick and maternity leave, and paid vacations. Over a third (36 percent) of black women workers lack paid sick leave.

All workers-especially the most vulnerable-need workplace protections, including minimum wages that are livable wages. Universally available family-friendly workplace policies would be especially beneficial to women given their care responsibilities: paid sick and parental leave, subsidized child and elder care, and flexible work options.
This analysis is based on the author's working paper, "Black Women on the Verge: Missing Black Men and Its Impact on Black Women."
1. Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei, Race, Gender, and Work: A Multicultural Economic History of Women in the U.S. (Boston: South End Press, 1996).

2. Jacqueline Jones, Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present (New York: Basic Books, 1985).

3. Deborah Gray White, "Making a Way Out of No Way," in Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894-1994" (W.W. Norton & Company, 1999).

4. Peter Edelman, So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America (The New Press, 2012).

5. Author's calculation from BLS data.

6. Ellen Mutari, Marilyn Power, and Deborah M. Figart, "Neither Mothers nor Breadwinners: African-American Women's Exclusion from US Minimum Wage Policies, 1912-1938," Feminist Economics 8, no. 2 (2002): 37-61.

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Black women's labor market history reveals deep-seated race and gender discrimination

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The black woman's experience in America provides arguably the most overwhelming evidence of the persistent and ongoing drag from gender and race discrimination on the economic fate of workers and families. Black women's labor market position is the result of employer practices and government policies that disadvantaged black women relative to white women and men....

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Most of us today are blind to some of the discrimination going on, and we assume it's all in the past. However, half of our LGBTQ community live in states where there are no laws in place to protect them for who they are meant to be.

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About half of LGBTQ people in the U.S. - 52% - live in states where they could be fired, nixed for a promotion, refused training or harassed at their jobs, all because of their gender identity and sexual orientation.

It is a number that comes as a thunderbolt to many who assume in 2019 laws are more inclusive, rights advocates say - and it underlines the urgency of a trio of cases the Supreme Court is weighing Tuesday that could guarantee federal protections for LGBTQ workers nationwide.

"Most Americans are shocked to learn that we lack explicit laws protecting LGBTQ people from being fired for who they are or who they love," said Naomi Goldberg, policy research director for the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a think tank that maintains a database on laws affecting LGBTQ people. "The fact that 52% of LGBTQ adults live in states without explicit protections means that the cases before the Supreme Court are even more consequential."

In cases viewed by some as monumental as the 2015 gay marriage ruling, justices will hear challenges from New York, Michigan and Georgia involving workers who say they were fired because they were gay or transgender. The cases center on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin and sex, prohibits bias against LGBTQ people.

While Title VII doesn't explicitly cite sexual orientation or gender identity as separate protected categories, certain federal and state agencies, some courts - and significantly, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - have recognized Title VII's protections against "sex" bias as applying to LGBTQ people.

Right now, LGBTQ people - even in states that haven't outlawed discrimination - can seek recourse for workplace discrimination through the EEOC.

But if the Supreme Court rules LGBTQ people are not protected, it would "invalidate the EEOC's current practice of accepting and processing" bias charges, said Greg Nevins, senior counsel at Lambda Legal. The EEOC "will proceed according to how the court rules."
A divided court: Supreme Court is divided over gay, transgender job bias in civil rights case to be decided during 2020 election
How many people are affected?

About 4.5% of the U.S. population identifies as LGBTQ or an estimated 11 million people, of which 88% are employed, according to a 2018 report by MAP and the National LGBTQ Workers Center.
'A diverse workforce':More than 200 companies tell Supreme Court to apply job discrimination laws to sexual orientation, gender identity
If the court rules that LGBTQ workers are not protected under Title VII, rights advocates fear the same reasoning will also upend other protections nationwide.

"The stakes in these cases for LGBTQ people couldn't be higher," Goldberg said. "That's because there are many places in federal law where discrimination based on sex is prohibited - in housing, education, health care and credit." If the court doesn't affirm Title VII protections, much is at risk, she said.

And, on the flip side, if the court affirms rulings from the EEOC and various appeals courts, the decision would permeate other areas, she said. "It would be important for creating clear, national understanding that discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal."

What protections are in place right now?
'A long time coming':Ex-funeral home worker's case going to Supreme Court
A jumbled patchwork of state laws, local ordinances and conflicting court rulings now make up the discrimination rulebook.
'Watershed moment':SCOTUS ruling could completely alter lives of LGBTQ Americans
Only 21 states, the District of Columbia and two territories (Guam and Puerto Rico) have laws on the books explicitly banning bias in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

New York became the latest state in January to add gender identity to its anti-discrimination laws, which cover employment, after a years-long effort. The state passed the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in 2002, but a gender non-discrimination bill never followed until this year.

More than 280 city and county ordinances also ban discrimination - and those should not be overlooked, rights advocates say. For example, about 60% of people in Florida, a state lacking explicit bias laws, live in cities or counties with local employment protections, according to MAP.
Smashing stereotypes: How one town changed: This Kentucky town changed its views on LGBTQ rights Nearly 4 million LGBTQ people live in rural America, and 'everything is not bias and awful'
What is the current landscape for protections?
Tolerance down: The young are regarded as the most tolerant generation. That's why results of this LGBTQ survey are 'alarming'
The situation is complicated, Goldberg said. Because laws differ from state to state, a worker could be fired in one state, protected in another. EEOC rulings also aren't always binding on small, private employers; there are court decisions that lack agreement.

And sometimes state human rights commissions weigh in. For example, Michigan's non-discrimination law doesn't explicitly cite sexual orientation or gender identity, but the Michigan Civil Rights Commission has stated it interprets the state's laws to include protections for both.

"Currently some federal appeals courts have ruled that yes, discrimination based on gender identity is illegal ... or yes, discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal ... or no, neither is prohibited," Goldberg said. A Supreme Court ruling that Title VII prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity would provide blanket protections and clarity, she said.
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How common is discrimination?

Twenty-five percent of LGBTQ people reported experiencing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity - half of whom said it negatively impacted their work environment, according to the 2018 MAP report.
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Twenty-seven percent of transgender workers reported being fired, not hired or denied a promotion in 2016-2017, the report says.

And about half of the more than 9,000 LGBTQ-related claims filed with the EEOC from 2012-2016 were from states lacking explicit protections for LGBTQ workers.

Could existing protections be overturned?

If the Supreme Court rules that Title VII does not protect LGBTQ workers, the decision will not remove any existing employment protections for the 48% of the LGBTQ population in states with protective laws. The decision also will not thwart any local ordinances banning workplace bias, nor will it change state court interpretations of state sex discrimination laws, according to MAP.

But with the EEOC no longer being able to validate such discrimination charges, half of LGBTQ workers would become even more vulnerable, advocates say.

Above all, what is needed is the passage of the federal Equality Act, regardless of how the court rules, says Lambda Legal's Nevins. The act, which passed the House earlier this year, will assure "all the protections the court can provide and more," in employment, housing and beyond, he said.

Still, a Title VII victory would be pivotal. "It will confirm a basic truth: that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is sex discrimination," he said.

"If Don and Donna date men, and you fire only Don, what else is that?"

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'Shocking' numbers: Half of LGBTQ adults live in states where no laws ban job discrimination

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About half of LGBTQ people in the U.S. - 52% - live in states where they could be fired, nixed for a promotion, refused training or harassed at their jobs, all because of their gender identity and sexual orientation.

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Everyone has good and bad experiences with different healthcare providers, but sometimes those apart of the LGBTQ community particularly struggle. This video discusses their experiences with both good and bad healthcare providers.

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North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network

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LGBTIQ+ People Talk About Their Experiences Accessing Health Care

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Vogue has created a series where models open up about the industry. This specific video focuses on the pressure women have in the modeling industry to uphold the ideal body.

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9 Models on the Pressure to Lose Weight and Body Image | The Models | Vogue

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Women Protest in Their Underwear to Prove a Point 

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Women Protest in Their Underwear to Prove a Point 

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Women of all shapes, sizes and color stood outside of a Victorias secret in London pushing for more diversity in the modeling industry.

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The backlash in response to the controversial comments made by a Victoria's Secret marketing exec is not slowing down.

In another blow to the store's rep, demonstrators gathered on Thursday outside one of the lingerie giant's London stores. The protest - a collaboration between Love Disfigure, an advocacy group which calls for more diversity across industries, and Nunude, a clothing brand with similar values - were calling for more visibility of different body types in fashion, starting with the Victoria's Secret runway. Despite the chilly temperatures, the women were wearing only nude sports bras and underwear.

The participants, who branded themselves "the fallen angels," also carried signs for the event.

"We want diversity for all brands," read one.

"Our bodies matter too," said another.

"Fighting for equality at Victoria's Secret," stated a third.
RELATED: Ashley Graham Addresses Lack of Inclusion in Modeling Industry Amid VS Fashion Show Controversy
Both Love Disfigure and Nunude posted pictures on their Instagram accounts commemorating the big day.

"It's not just about body diversity or skin," the caption of one Nunude photo explained. "It's about every single difference! We are all loved and we are all beautiful."

"Amazing day shared with my lovely friends #FallenAngels Campaigning for Diversity in the Fashion Industry," Love Disfigure wrote. "We marched into Victoria's Secret and stripped down to our ... underwear shouting that we want diversity on our runways. Then we found ourselves in the middle of Oxford street calling for change."
RELATED: Lingerie Brand ThirdLove Slams Victoria's Secret for Lack of Inclusion in Powerful New York Times Ad
In another post, the group professed, "When people look at us and think we are craving for attention because we eat too much, they are clearly blind to what is happening out there. We have become so used to seeing one body image that we find it difficult to open up our minds to want to see others."

Victoria's Secret reps decline PEOPLE's request for comment.

In November, after the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was filmed, L Brands (the parent company of Victoria's Secret) chief marketing officer Ed Razek sparked controversy when he addressed some of the criticism the brand has faced over the years for its lack of inclusivity.

"Shouldn't you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don't think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It's a 42-minute entertainment special," Razek said.

He added that inviting plus-size models to participate the show isn't something Victoria's Secret plans to do in the future, since "no one had any interest in it" when they pursued the idea in 2000.

"I think we address the way the market is shifting on a constant basis. If you're asking if we've considered putting a transgender model in the show or looked at putting a plus-size model in the show, we have," Razek said. "We invented the plus-size model show in what was our sister division, Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant still sells plus-size lingerie, but it sells a specific range, just like every specialty retailer in the world sells a range of clothing. As do we. We market to who we sell to, and we don't market to the whole world."
RELATED VIDEO: In Case You Missed It! All the Biggest Moments From the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
Razek continued, "We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don't."

In a statement released the next day, Razek apologized, insisting that, "To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We've had transgender models come to castings ... And like many others, they didn't make it ... But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are."

This year, Victoria's Secret made an effort to expand diversity on the runway by casting 19 models of color, including Winnie Harlow, the first model with vitiligo. The special first aired Dec. 2 on ABC. An encore presentation of the show will air Dec. 7 at 9 pm on ABC.

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Women Strip Down to Their Underwear to Protest Lack of Inclusion Outside Victoria's Secret Store in London

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The backlash in response to the controversial comments made by a Victoria's Secret marketing exec is not slowing down. In another blow to the store's rep, demonstrators gathered on Thursday outside one of the lingerie giant's London stores.

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I recently came across this image on Instagram, and it is showing that if we do not support all of the different women, then we support no women at all.

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The AAUW has been supporting women and offering a variety of services to people over the years. Some of the things they have been helping with are sex discrimination and support policies that provide fairness for women.

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This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. I Accept Privacy policy

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It's not easy to be an escort, especially when it's at the only location in the state of Mississippi. Escorts face a ton of backlash and criticism, but continue to stand for women's reproductive rights.

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Kim Gibson wore a pastel rainbow-striped vest with the words "clinic escort" in bold, black letters as she glanced over at the arriving white van. She was irritated by the sudden appearance in Jackson of more Christian anti-abortion protesters in front of Mississippi's lone abortion clinic.

She watched as the vehicle pulled up, letting out two sisters. They dropped picket signs onto the Jackson sidewalk before their mother drove off to park. When she walked back with her teenage son, Gibson yelled: "Shame what you do to these children. Shame, shame, shame."

The young boy held up a poster nearly as tall as himself, with a picture of an aborted fetus: "The wages of sin is death," it said.

Gibson marched down the parking lot to turn up the song on the speakers in front of the clinic doors and Gwen Stefani lets everyone know she ain't no hollaback girl for the seventh time that day.

It's part of the "going in" soundtrack - all upbeat songs - for patients arriving at the clinic. Another escort dances along, facing the protesters, trying to create a buffer between the protesters and women going in for state-mandated counseling sessions or procedures.

Mississippi is the only state in the south with a lone abortion provider and attracts special attention from protesters. As a wave of states across the US, including conservative southern states like Mississippi, pass ever stricter anti-abortion laws, the role of such clinics has become ever more important.

Mississippi is one of nine states to pass restrictive abortion bans. These all come as a reinvigorated evangelical right in the US challenges access to abortion. The bans are designed to place pressure on Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that protected a pregnant woman's legal right to choose to have an abortion.

And in order to function, there is one group of people the clinics desperately need: the escorts who help patients run the gauntlet of protesters determined to stop them having abortions.

Here in this corner of Mississippi, they are the Pink House Defenders: nicknamed for the garish color of the Jackson Women's Health Organization's exterior walls.

All the escorts are volunteers. Most have full-time jobs and schedule work shifts around clinic days. They have been organized for more than six years by 60-year-old Derenda Hancock.

Gibson's and Hancock's attention shifts quickly to new protesters, particularly one clad in a pink vest, motioning for a car driving up to the abortion clinic to roll down the passenger window. At first, the passenger hesitates but when the teen tugs at her pink vest, suggesting she works at the clinic (she doesn't) the passenger rolls down the window.

mississippi map

A pamphlet is thrust into the car and the girl speaks to those inside: "What did your baby do wrong?"

Frantically, Gibson motions to the car to keep driving. "C'mon, sweetie! " Hancock sighed, rolling her eyes. "This is Mississippi. They are too polite to drive past these people."

Dale, Gibson's husband is another escort. As a patient makes her way from the lot to the front entrance, protesters peek through the gap in the black tarp, pleading for the woman to reconsider. Using a tambourine, Dale tries to drown out the "sidewalk counseling", as protesters call their work. The song coming through the speakers is "Twist and Shout".

Each volunteer plays a role in keeping the chaos to a minimum, when they can.

James Parker, Hancock's longtime partner, keeps an eye on the traffic in and out of the parking lot. Another morning, before patients arrive, Parker repaints the white parking spot dividers to mitigate potential traffic jams. When he told colleagues at his power plant where he spent his off days, they assumed he was picketing the clinic.

"They only think it's admirable if you're protesting," he said.

Each volunteer plays a role in keeping the chaos to a minimum, when they can

Escorts would be unnecessary if not for the protesters who seem to match them shift-for-shift. A 73-year-old woman protester claims she was the first one to start protesting the Jackson abortion clinic more than seven years ago. Now, she tries to make sure at least one anti-abortion protester is covering the shift each morning.

"Good morning. How are you?" another protester asks Hancock later one morning, walking toward the tarp-covered pink wall begging a patient to reconsider. Hancock can't help but respond: "Better before you got here."

Spending so much time together, the escorts have gotten to know the protesters and which ones to worry about.

One morning, Hancock and Gibson lean into their portable red chairs at the entrance of the lot, not worried about the trio in front of them. The 73-year-old protester can't scream very loudly, Hancock says. "[Her friend] is loud, though," Gibson offers. Hancock points to a younger woman and labels her a "screecher". This mother, who has brought four of her children to protest, Hancock relays, has 10 children but they're quieter than their cousins, 14 in total.

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Kim Gibson (left) and Derenda Hancock discuss a strategy to shield clinic patients from Christian anti-abortion protesters behind them. Photograph: Khushbu Shah/The Guardian

"They're good kids," she added.

Right now, the larger set is on a road trip with their parents. Hancock doesn't hold it against the children. She even gave the kids a list of sights to see as they make their way around the midwest and keeps tabs on them through their father's Facebook page.

With the recent attention on anti-abortion bills in the south, anti-abortion protesters and women seeking abortions aren't the only ones showing up. In recent days, an older man from California joined the tight knit group, claiming he's a pro-choice lay minister. He himself would like to offer counseling options to women after they've had an abortion, he tells the group.

Frustrated by his presence, Hancock refuses. There's already enough religion being thrown around healthcare here, she points out.

"It's just so much. Everywhere. All the time," Gibson said.
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The 'escorts' who ward off anti-abortion protesters at Mississippi's lone clinic

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Kim Gibson wore a pastel rainbow-striped vest with the words "clinic escort" in bold, black letters as she glanced over at the arriving white van. She was irritated by the sudden appearance in Jackson of more Christian anti-abortion protesters in front of Mississippi's lone abortion clinic.