By PHILIP ROTNER

While COVID-19 has our full attention, two cases with potentially disastrous consequences for the LGBTQ community sit in the U.S. Supreme Court like a ticking bomb.

The two cases that could greenlight unfettered employment discrimination against gays and transgender individuals are awaiting decision in May or June. If the decisions go the way some observers believe they will, private employers will be able to fire LGBTQ employees at will.

They will not have to justify the firings on the basis of a religious belief. They will not have to claim that the employee has done anything wrong or has been anything other than a model employee. They will be able to do it — legally — just because they don’t like gays or transgender individuals.

And this is precisely what the U.S. government is asking the court to do.

The two cases, Bostock v. Clayton County and Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, involve Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sex. The cases raise the issue of whether that prohibition applies to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identification.

The stakes are enormous because there’s no other federal law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification. Some states have such laws, but over half of them don’t. Federal employees have some protection, but there’s no federal law prohibiting private employers from discriminating against the LGBTQ community. Read more via Chicago Tribune