Penna Dexter

The foundation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 lies in providing important political and economic protections for blacks. It’s a sweeping law. The Supreme Court tinkered with it recently and not in a good way. Title VII of the law provides powerful protections for women in the workplace. But the High Court’s 6-3 decision, in Bostock v. Clayton County, reinterpreted — really redefined — the phrase “on the basis of sex”, stuffing “gender identity” and “sexual orientation’ into its meaning. Justice Neil Gorsuch, ironically a self-avowed textualist, wrote the opinion. In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito called the ruling: “legislation” and pointed out that, “Over 100 federal statutes prohibit discrimination because of sex.” There could be some inconvenient repercussions: Religious business owners, concerned with damage to the face of their business will suffer. (The funeral home, the losing plaintiff in one of the cases bundled into Bostock, believed that the gender transition of its director would provide an unacceptable distraction to grieving families). Religious exemptions are not provided in this ruling. But even if they were, or are added in the future, they will likely not extend to business owners with religious convictions. (Baker Jack Phillips could be back in court.) People of faith in the helping professions — psychology, social work, medicine, etc. — could be obligated to affirm this definition of sex. Compliance could be a requirement for licensure. The Colson Center’s John Stonestreet expects the logic employed in the Bostock opinion to extend to other areas, like housing. He says, “the next domino will likely be Title IX, which prohibits sexual discrimination in education.” Christian schools and colleges that refuse to compromise would not survive. Certain athletic conferences already allow biological males who present as women to compete in women’s track, weightlifting, cycling, and other sports. If this reasoning is applied to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, women’s sports, one of the law’s wonderful success stories, will be destroyed. Stay tuned.