Commonwealth Policy Center

The U.S. Supreme Court expanded the definition of sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The court heard a case out of Georgia called Bostock v. Clayton County, where a man who identified as homosexual lost his job and claimed that he was discriminated based on sex. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only protected race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. When the law was passed 60 years ago, nobody imagined that the term “sex” meant “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,” which is at odds with biological sex. Yet, the Supreme Court plowed ahead and expanded the definition of sex anyway. The LGBT community hailed the ruling as a major victory. However, conservatives see this as a blow to the democratic process and another example of judicial activism.