Mayor Dobies Joins Nearly 100 Mayors and Cities Filing Brief to U.S. Supreme Court In Support of LGBT Rights
Today Mayor Derek Dobies announced he has signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief in three key LGBT cases that will be heard at the Supreme Court next term. The brief includes nearly 100 mayors and municipalities around the U.S. encouraging the Supreme Court to rule in support of LGBT nondiscrimination protections in the workplace.
“No one should experience discrimination because of who they are or who they love. Our LGBTQ neighbors and community members make important contributions to our community, and they just want the same thing as every other resident: to raise a family, to make a decent living, and to feel accepted in the city they call home. As Mayor, I will never stop fighting to make sure all of my residents are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. No form of discrimination has any place in Jackson, nor in the United States,” Mayor Dobies said.
In 2017, Mayor Dobies spearheaded local efforts to pass Jackson’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance, providing protections to the LGBTQ community in employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination. In 2018, Dobies appointed the first transgender citizen ever appointed as a full member to a city board or commission, and created an LGBTQ Liaison within the mayor’s office. Dobies served as the Grand Marshall of the 2018 Pride Parade.
“We appreciate Mayor Dobies signing onto this important brief and letting the US Supreme Court know that Jackson stands up for its LGBTQ citizens,” said Karyl Baker, Chair of the Board or Directors of the Jackson Pride Center. “While LGBT citizens have protections from discrimination in Jackson with the passage of the NDO, we lack those same rights just outside city boundaries. We’ve made progress in Jackson, and it’s time we see that same progress reflected across our country.”
The cases concern three plaintiffs: Gerald Lynn Bostock, who was fired from his job as a court child welfare services coordinator in Georgia because he is gay; Aimee Stephens, who was let go from her job at a funeral home in Michigan after she shared with her employer that she is a transgender woman; and Don Zarda, who was fired from his job in New York as a skydiving instructor for being gay.
The brief states in part:
“Local anti-discrimination laws promote the prosperity and vitality of American communities. Among other things, these laws enhance innovation and economic opportunities. For example, researchers have found that state-level non-discrimination acts barring sexual orientation and transgender status discrimination result in higher rates of innovation, as measured by patents and patent citations. Adopting specific protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status has facilitated LGBT individuals’ participation in, and contribution to, their communities, enriching both the individual and the whole. And it has achieved that end with no real difficulties of implementation or administration, all while avoiding burdening taxpayer resources to remediate the harms of workplace discrimination against LGBT residents.”
At the core of these cases is the question of whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sex, prohibits LGBTQ discrimination. A number of lower courts and federal agencies have already affirmed that it does. In addition, 30 states and more than 250 cities around the country have comprehensive laws in place ensuring nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, including in employment.
Other Michigan communities joining the brief include Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Southfield, Washtenaw County, Ypsilanti, and Pleasant Ridge.
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