For Immediate Release: July 3rd, 2019 

Media Contact: Lora L. Tucker 

Phone: 954-765-6024 

Email: lora@lgbtcenters.org

CenterLink Signs on to Title VII Amicus Brief

Ft. Lauderdale - The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and 57 other civil rights organizations filed a “friend of the court” brief today in a trio of cases before the Supreme Court. These cases examine whether employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

CenterLink submitted a statement of interest along with other LGBTQ organizations across the country.  More than 200 major U.S. corporations submitted a separate brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that excluding sexual orientation and gender identity from federal civil rights law “would undermine the nation’s business interests.” Amazon, American Airlines, Bank of America, Ben & Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, Domino’s Pizza, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Starbucks, Viacom, the Walt Disney Co. and Xerox are among the companies supporting nationwide employment protections for LGBTQ people.

The three cases before the Court are Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia; R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda. These combined cases will be heard by the Supreme Court next term, which begins in October 2019.  The amicus brief in its entirety is available here.

CenterLink develops strong, sustainable LGBT community centers and builds a thriving center network that creates healthy, vibrant communities. Founded in 1994, CenterLink plays an important role in addressing the challenges centers face by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity, access public resources, and engage their regional communities in the grassroots social justice movement. www.lgbtcenters.org. 

###