A diverse crowd of New Yorkers wearing masks and waving the
rainbow pride flag gathered on Monday at the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar
in Manhattan, to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling making it illegal for
employers to fire workers because they are transgender.
“Our Supreme Court did something!” said Marti Cummings, a
prominent nonbinary New York drag queen. “It was a 6-3 ruling that said we are
allowed to have jobs. That we are allowed to go to work and be ourselves, that
we can show up at work and say that I am a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender,
gender nonconforming, nonbinary, genderqueer, two spirit person.”
The landmark 6-3 ruling represented the biggest advancement
for LGBT rights in the United States since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex
marriage nationwide in 2015.
Workplace bias against gay and transgender employees had
remained legal in much of the country, with 28 U.S. states lacking
comprehensive measures against employment discrimination. The ruling - in two
gay rights cases from Georgia and New York and a transgender rights case from
Michigan - recognizes new worker protections in federal law.
Speakers at the Stonewall Inn talked about the nature of
labor in the transgender community, and advocated for protections for sex work.
It is arguably the most famous gay bar in the world, where a 1969 police raid
and subsequent protests launched the modern gay rights movement. (Reuters)
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