ACLU Honors Trans Woman from Detroit Whose Discrimination Case Might Go to SCOTUS
Tonight the ACLU of Michigan will hold its annual dinner to honor people who made an impact on the organization over the last year. This year Aimee Stephens is being honored at the dinner. She is a transgender woman who was fired by her employer when she began working openly as a trans woman. She sued her employer for sex discrimination after she was fired.
In March, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled for Aimee, stating that discrimination against transgender people is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that protects employees from discrimination.
That appeals court joined a growing consensus among federal courts on this issue. Five federal appeals courts, as well as dozens of lower federal courts, agree that anti-trans discrimination is a form of sex discrimination that violates federal law…
But the Trump administration disagrees. A year ago, Attorney General Sessions declared that transgender people would no longer be protected from sex discrimination under Title VII, changing the rules for all federal programs.
The funeral home has asked the Supreme Court to review Aimee’s case, reverse the ruling in her favor, and declare that federal civil rights laws don’t protect transgender people. On Wednesday, the ACLU filed a brief [10] with the Supreme Court explaining why it should decline review and allow the ruling to stand.
To hear from Aimee and ACLU lawyer Jay Kaplan on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.
