South Carolinians Oppose Anti-LGBTQ Lawsuit Brought by SC Attorney General and Others
This week the Attorney General of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, joined with Attorneys General in 19 other states to file a lawsuit seeking to block the Biden Administration’s guidance that federal laws protecting Americans from discrimination based on “sex” also protect LGBTQ people from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The Administration’s guidance is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in the Bostock case, which concerned specifically employment discrimination but ostensibly applied to every other area of federal law that covers “sex” discrimination.
According to LGBTQ Nation, the lawsuit takes issue with two executive orders signed by President Biden:
“President Joe Biden signed two executive orders protecting LGBTQ rights earlier this year. One of them said that federal law that bans sex-based discrimination also bans anti-LGBTQ discrimination, using the reasoning of the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton Co. decision that said that it’s impossible to, for example, fire a gay employee without taking their sex into account.”
“The other executive order applied that reasoning to Title IX (the 1972 law that bans discrimination in education “on the basis of sex”) saying that discriminating against LGBTQ students – like banning trans girls from schools sports – is an illegal form of discrimination.”
The lawsuit brought by AG Wilson and other states specifically attacks transgender young people, taking issue with students’ access to the restroom and ability to play sports alongside their peers. It also attempts to roll back guidance that employers respect their transgender employees’ ability to use the restroom.
The SC United for Justice & Equality coalition has worked repeatedly this year to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination and fight back against efforts to exclude and alienate transgender students. We strongly oppose Attorney General Wilson’s attempt to undermine the guidance that the Biden Administration has issued in order to create a climate where LGBTQ people of all ages can thrive, free from discrimination based on who they are.
Today, we say with one voice: This lawsuit does NOT represent South Carolina. It does not speak for us. And we will continue to fight hard for LGBTQ people everywhere, especially transgender young people who have faced relentless attacks from the lawmakers who are supposed to be representing them and looking out for our entire state.