美国国家公共电台 NPR Are LGBTQ Employees Safe From Discrimination? A New Supreme Court Case Will Decide

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Tomorrow the Supreme¹ Court considers the issue of discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace. Most states do not have explicit² protections, and in those states the court's decision could have a significant effect. NPR's Leila Fadel reports.

KATHLEEN O'DONNELL: Are you ready to go to the park?

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE³: It's a hectic⁴ morning for Kathleen O'Donnell and her wife Casey.

O'DONNELL: Yeah, we just got a new kiddo yesterday.

FADEL: Overnight the couple got a 4-year-old foster daughter. Kathleen is getting her ready for the park. Casey's wrangling⁵ the four dogs after getting their 11-year-old son off to school - a typical day at the O'Donnell house on a tree-lined street in Billings, Mont.

O'DONNELL: So all of my family lives in Billings, so we kind of, you know, with a kid and stuff, decided⁶ to be around them.

FADEL: But when she and her wife chose to make Billings home in 2014, they knew it came with risks as a same-sex couple. Montana is one of more than two dozen states that don't have explicit statewide laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Five cities in Montana have local nondiscrimination ordinances⁸, but Billings - the largest city in Montana - is not one of them. That became clear quickly. When Kathleen found a prospective⁹ home, the landlord handed her an application. Under spouse's name, she wrote Casey.

O'DONNELL: And he asked me, like, OK, well, is it a girl or a boy? Which is an odd question to ask someone.

FADEL: She said girl.

O'DONNELL: And so when I did that, that's when he's like, oh, I don't rent to your kind here.

FADEL: They found a different place to live. Two years later Kathleen landed a new job at a local auto¹⁰ dealership¹¹. She says the owner's son called her names.

O'DONNELL: And he felt it was OK to make names based on my appearance. And so they did not refer to me by Kathleen; they would refer to me like Bob.

FADEL: She needed the job. Everyone else was kind, so she stayed. A few days before her six-month probationary¹² period was up, her supervisor¹³ fired her.

O'DONNELL: I just looked at him. I was like, why am I being fired? I was like, I've never been in trouble. I've shown up to work. And he said, it's because the owner does not like that you're gay.

FADEL: The dealership would not comment on O'Donnell's firing.

O'DONNELL: So I called the Montana state employment and told them my story. And they're like, yeah, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for you.

FADEL: Gender¹⁴ identity and sexual orientation¹⁵ are not protected classes under Montana state law. Now, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Title VII, the federal statute¹⁶ that bars work discrimination on the basis of sex, does protect those categories. But the courts are split on whether Title VII actually includes LGBTQ people. This week the Supreme Court will hear three cases - two on sexual orientation and one on gender identity.

ADAM ROMERO: What these cases will decide is, does the federal statute that prohibits sex discrimination in employment cover discrimination on the basis of someone's sexual orientation or their gender identity? Because those forms of discrimination are sex-based.

O'DONNELL: That's Andrew Romero (ph), the federal policy director at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. He's referring to Title VII. And what the court decides will have a ripple¹⁷ effect beyond employment.

ROMERO: The question of discrimination in housing, in education, in public accommodations, in credit and other vital spheres of our lives, there are statutes¹⁸ that prohibit sex discrimination in those settings, and so the Supreme Court's decision in the employment context will inform courts decisions in these other contexts as well.

LISA FULLERTON: Historically, sex has been biology-based, and its association is the basis for government programs that were written to help women.

FADEL: Lisa Fullerton owns the San Antonio-based company A Novel Idea, a group of fast-food franchises¹⁹. Texas, like Montana, does not have explicit LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections, although San Antonio does.

FULLERTON: When a person's sex is arbitrarily defined or interpreted by judges or government, the opportunities are actually going to vanish for the women that they were designed to benefit.

FADEL: She says she employs LGBTQ people but is concerned about government overreach.

FULLERTON: The fear is that, if handled through the court, it might brutally²⁰ force inclusion, which could be seen as intolerant of the rights and differences of people of the cisgender orientation.

FADEL: Back in Billings, the mayor is closely watching the Supreme Court cases. Bill Cole says there are two reasons the city does not have a nondiscrimination ordinance⁷. Montana state laws, he says, dictate²¹ that an employer can't dismiss someone without good cause once their probationary period ends and...

BILL COLE: Anything that we do may be made moot²² by cases now pending²³ before the United States Supreme Court.

FADEL: In 2014 the city considered passing a protections ordinance, but the mayor at the time cast the deciding vote, saying Billings just isn't ready. That's when Reverend Sarah Beck at Billings Grace United Methodist Church decided if the city wasn't ready to say we'll protect you, her church would. It began the Rainbow Coffee House, a meeting space for LGBTQ teens.

SARAH BECK: If our community isn't going to create safe space, how do we find safe space for them? And so that's kind of where the Rainbow Coffee House came out of, was sort of people in the community saying, we want our community to be safe for people.

FADEL: Last year that safe space was defaced multiple times with anti-gay flyers, a swastika spray-painted on the rainbow flag that hangs in the church window, another on a church door, and outside a church sign was spray painted with the words no gays. Beck says community leaders like Mayor Cole and others condemned²⁴ the incidents and stood by the church.

BECK: That is all wonderful. But at the same time, what is the expectation when the message that you send to the community is, these people don't need to be protected? Then these sorts of things are inevitable²⁵.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: No piggyback rides.

FADEL: On this day, teens lounge in the grass. Some are playing cards, others roughhousing and laughing. This place, it's welcoming. But these high schoolers, Beck says, may graduate into a city and maybe a nation that's not.

Leila Fadel, NPR News, Billings.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 hectic   

adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的

参考例句：

• I spent a very hectic Sunday.我度过了一个忙乱的星期天。
• The two days we spent there were enjoyable but hectic.我们在那里度过的两天愉快但闹哄哄的。

5 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 ordinance   

n.法令；条令；条例

参考例句：

• The Ordinance of 1785 provided the first land grants for educational purposes.1785年法案为教育目的提供了第一批土地。
• The city passed an ordinance compelling all outdoor lighting to be switched off at 9.00 PM.该市通过一条法令强令晚上九点关闭一切室外照明。

8 ordinances   

n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These points of view, however, had not been generally accepted in building ordinances. 然而，这些观点仍未普遍地为其他的建筑条例而接受。 来自辞典例句
• Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 诗119:156耶和华阿、你的慈悲本为大．求你照你的典章将我救活。 来自互联网

9 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

10 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

11 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

12 probationary   

试用的，缓刑的

参考例句：

• After a six-month probationary period, she was confirmed in her post. 经过六个月的试用期之后，她获准正式任该职。
• After a three-month probationary period, she was confirmed in her post. 经过三个月的试用期后，她获准正式任职。

13 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

14 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

15 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

16 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

17 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

18 statutes   

成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程

参考例句：

• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

19 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

20 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

21 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

22 moot   

v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会

参考例句：

• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point.那个在董事会上提出讨论的问题仍未决的。
• The oil versus nuclear equation is largely moot.石油和核能之间的关系还很有争议。

23 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

24 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

25 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。