COLUMBUS, Ohio ― In the midst of racial injustice and a global pandemic, a win for the LGBTQ community emerged Monday.
What You Need To Know
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ workers are protected by federal anti-discrimination law in the workplace
- This comes during a time of a global pandemic and numerous protests and marches for Black Lives Matter
- Stonewall Columbus says they plan to keep fighting for LGBTQ rights
The U.S Supreme Court ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are now both understood to be forms of sex discrimination that are prohibited under title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This means that a person cannot be fired for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Dr. Jan Huebenthal, assistant director of the LGBTQ Center at Ohio University, says in a time with lots of adverse news, the ruling caught him off guard, but nonetheless, was welcomed.
“What this ruling does is really create a national nationwide standard for protection which is absolutely incredible and it is incredible for a number of reasons because the marriage equality ruling, which was one of the landmark civil rights cases that happened just a few years ago, that ruling left this ongoing vulnerability unaddressed, right,” he said. “So we have this saying ‘married on Saturday and fired on Monday,’ right, so that was kind of the tongue-in-cheek way of saying it and with this day, that’s a thing of the past.”
In Columbus, black married couple Preston and Ta’Shobe Kindred-Williams, are co-founders of the clothing brand Kingfinity, which they founded to intersect their two realities of being black and gay.
Preston says when he first moved to this city, he experienced discrimination in the workplace.
“I’m originally from Washington, D.C., which is a completely different ballgame than Columbus, Ohio when it comes to diversity and when I got to Columbus I worked for a major company that is there in Columbus, but for some reason I could not seem to get ahead,” he said. “And I ended up having to file a discrimination case because I felt my sexuality and my race played a part as to why I was training all these people that were able to get promoted, but I was not.”
Being a part of two underserved communities, he says this landmark ruling made him smile.
“It kind of puts a nail in the fact that our lives matter. You cannot discriminate against us just because you’re uncomfortable. If we can do the job, you have to be able to respect that,” he said.
President of the Board of Trustees at Stonewall Columbus Gerry Rodriquez, says this ruling is on the right side of history and Stonewall Columbus plans to keep the momentum going.
“That’s the role we have to play in our community. We have to continue to be a champion and give a voice to those who may not have the opportunity to be heard on their own and so, anything we can do to use our platform and our visibility to have those conversations at a higher level with the CEOs in our community, with business leaders, government officials, we’re happy to do that, to continue to do that and to keep pushing forward,” he said.
The significance of this ruling during this particular time where protestors are marching for equality and justice in the streets and cities across America is not lost on Rodriquez.
“Remember that this was a fight, this continues to be a fight, a fight for equity, a fight for equality and inclusion, these kinds of things. Those fights are paying off and we’re living through history in so many ways right now,” he said.
