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LA City Attorney Leads Filing in Support of LGBTQ Workforce Rights

City Attorney Mike Feuer, along with the city of New York and government agencies and elected officials across the country, filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court today seeking to protect LGBTQ workers from employment discrimination.

"Again, we're taking a stand for LGBTQ equality and against discrimination," Feuer said in a statement. "No one should fear losing their livelihood because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The court should make it emphatically clear that our laws ensure equal treatment for all people."

In the brief, a coalition of 66 cities and counties as well as 28 mayors across the United States stated their support for the rights of LGBTQ people, arguing they should be protected from workplace discrimination under federal law, according to Feuer's office.

The brief was filed in connection with three consolidated cases that will be decided by the Supreme Court next year. According to the City Attorney's Office, each case stems from the firing of an LGBTQ person on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In each of the cases, the Supreme Court will decide whether employing someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited employment discrimination, based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was also among the signatories on the court filing.

"How can it be that in 2019 we still are debating whether members of the LGBT community deserve to be protected from workplace discrimination because of who they love or because they are transgender?" Becerra asked.

"The answer is simple -- they do."

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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