美国最高法院最新裁定：不能因为性取向解雇员工

In a sweeping victory for LGBTQ civil rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer could not fire someone on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

LGBTQ群体的民权运动大获全胜，美国最高法院规定，雇主不能因为员工的性取向或者性别认定而将其解雇。

The 6-3 decision has wide-reaching implications for gay, lesbian, and transgender employees in states where local laws do not specifically protect them. (One count last year found that 17 states had no protections at all for such workers.)

在有些州，当地法律没有明确保护同性恋、女同性恋和变性员工，而这一6比3的裁决对这些群体有着深远影响。（去年经统计发现有17个州对此类员工没有任何法律保护。）

This decision ruled that Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964—which already bans workplace discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics such as race and sex—should be applied to sexual orientation and gender identity as well.

这一决定规定，1964年里程碑式的《民权法》第七章也适用于性取向和性别认定，这一章禁止种族和性别等受保护特征在工作场所受歧视。

Here’s the opening paragraph from the Majority opinion, written Justice Neil Gorsuch:

以下是大法官Neil Gorsuch写下的主要想法的开头段：

“Sometimes small gestures can have unexpected consequences. Major initiatives practically guarantee them. In our time, few pieces of federal legislation rank in significance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There, in Title VII, Congress outlawed discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear. An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

“有时候小的行为可能会产生意想不到的后果。重大举措能为它们提供切实保障。我们这个时代的联邦立法中没有几条在重要性上能赶得上1964年的《民权法》，国会在该法案的第七章中禁止在工作场所产生基于种族、肤色、宗教、性别或国籍的歧视。现在我们必须要决定雇主是否可以仅仅因为某位员工是同性恋或变性人就将其解雇。答案是明显的。雇主因为某位员工是同性恋或变性人就将其解雇，但如果有不同性别的人也有同样的特征或行为就不会被解雇。性别是导致这一决定必要的不可掩饰的因素，这也正是法案第七章所禁止的。”