A Landmark Supreme Court Ruling

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. We examine the three words the case hung on; what the written opinions had to say about bathrooms, locker rooms, sports, pronouns and religious objections to same-sex marriage; and the implications for the ruling. Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times and Aimee Stephens, the lead plaintiff in a transgender discrimination case heard by the Supreme Court. Ms. Stephens died in May; she was 59. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Ms. Stephens was fired after she announced that she would live as a woman. She did not live to see the Supreme Court rule in her favor.Until Monday’s decision, it was legal in more than half of the states to fire workers for being gay, bisexual or transgender.The justices are confronting an unusually potent mix of political and social issues in the middle of both a presidential election year and a public health crisis. Here’s an overview of the major cases this year to get you up to speed.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Amy Stevens, 58 years old, and I live in Redford, Michigan.
0:08.0	Amy, I wonder if you could read from the letter that you handed your boss?
0:13.0	Sure.
0:18.0	Dear friends and coworkers, I have known many of you for some time now,
0:25.0	and I count you all as my friends.
0:28.0	What I must tell you is very difficult for me and is taking all the courage I can muster.
0:35.0	I am writing this both to inform you of a significant change in my life,
0:40.0	and to ask for your patience, understanding, and support, which I would treasure greatly.
0:47.0	I have a gender identity disorder that I have struggled with my entire life.
0:53.0	I have felt imprisoned in a body that does not match my mind, and this has caused me great despair and loneliness.
1:01.0	With the support of my loving wife, I have decided to become the person that my mind already is.
1:08.0	At the end of my vacation on August 26, 2013, I will return to work as my true self,
1:16.0	Amy Australia Stevens, an appropriate business attire.
1:21.0	I realized that some of you may have trouble understanding this.
1:26.0	In truth, I have had to live with it every day of my life, and even I do not fully understand it myself.
1:33.0	It is my wish that I can continue my work at RG and GRH,
1:39.0	at General Holmes, doing what I have always done, which is my best.
1:44.0	I gave it to the boss, and then two weeks later he came back with his own letter,
1:56.0	which was my letter of dismissal.
2:00.0	Basically, his letter to me was that your services are no longer needed.
2:06.0	This is what we're offering.
2:09.0	You have 21 days to make up your mind.
	...

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