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Lord, we pray that your will would be done in this Court!
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UPDATE: The Supreme Court seemed closely divided Tuesday as to whether a federal employment nondiscrimination law covers LGBT workers.

It appeared that President Donald Trump’s two appointees to the high court will be decisive to the outcome of Tuesday’s cases. Justice Neil Gorsuch called the dispute a close case, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh — who does not have a lengthy record on gay rights issues — was virtually silent over the two hours of arguments.

Continue praying for each of the Supreme Court Justices by name, that they would not deviate from what the Civil Rights Act
was intended to do–not allow discrimination for those immutable qualities (those qualities we cannot change). 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bans discrimination in employment based on characteristics like race or sex. Though sexual orientation (gays and lesbians) and gender identity (transgender people) are not specifically enumerated categories, the plaintiffs in Tuesday’s cases say Title VII’s bar on sex-based discrimination also bans unequal treatment of gays and lesbians.

Tuesday’s arguments featured three LGBT plaintiffs. The first two, Gerald Bostock and the late Donald Zarda, are gay. They claim they were fired for their sexual orientation. The third plaintiff is a trans woman named Aimee Stephens, who lost employment as a funeral home director after deciding to transition. The defendant-employers in all three cases dispute that sexual orientation or gender identity were the reason for dismissal.

Judicial conservatives emphasize the original public meaning of a text when interpreting the law. That originalist approach makes this a straightforward case, the defendants say.

“The term ‘sex’ as commonly understood in the era during which Title VII was enacted meant the trait of being male or female and did not refer to sexual orientation or homosexuality,” the defendants told the justices in legal filings, citing contemporary dictionary definitions.

Yet another legal theory conservatives champion, textualism, could require a different result. Textualists say the language itself should be the most important factor when interpreting a law. By the plaintiffs telling, originalism and textualism point in different directions in these cases, making them as significant for gay rights as they are for conservative legal theory.

The text of Title VII bars sex-based discrimination. The plaintiffs say unequal treatment of gay workers is classic sex discrimination, since it punishes one sex for conduct that is tolerated when performed by the opposite sex. As one filing before the high court reads, to discriminate against men who are attracted to men, but not women who are attracted to men, is “sex discrimination pure and simple.”

“Donald Zarda’s claim that Altitude Express fired him ‘because of sex’ could actually be adjudicated without ever using the term ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gay,’” the plaintiffs wrote. “The claim could accurately be framed entirely in terms of sex and nothing else: Zarda was fired for being a man attracted to men.”

In addition, the plaintiffs say unequal treatment of LGBT workers is rooted in unfair sex stereotypes, which they believe Title VII already bans, citing a 1987 Supreme Court decision.

The arguments over transgender discrimination are largely similar, yet the consequences could be different. The defendants say no sex-based policy could survive if Title VII reached trans people.

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BIG WEEK FOR THE SUPREME COURT AND IFA WILL BE THERE | Intercessors for America
October 10, 2019

[…] week, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard two critical cases on the application of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to sexual orientation and gender identity. As Justice Gorsuch said during the hearing, a ruling in […]

Pattie
October 9, 2019

FATHER GOD ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD REPROBATE MINDS SIN PERVERSION (OUR CHILDREN AND THE FILTH THEY ARE TEACHING IN SCHOOL). ROMANS Q:24-32.AMEN@

Mildred Moore
October 8, 2019

Father which in heaven, hallowed be thy name! thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen .

Kathryn
October 8, 2019

Father – We have strayed so far from your ways. Jesus held the bar higher regarding the behaviors that are being manifested in our nation today. I pray that the Supreme court will realize that they will answer to a higher court someday. Help them to be aware that they are responsible to you for all of the decisions that they are making. Your Word declares- “The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to Him. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For royal power belongs to the Lord. He rules all the nations. Psalm 22:27-28
Father, please help those who are making decisions to humbly seek to follow the intention of the Civil rights act and not legislate from the bench regarding a new law.
Please have mercy and cause them to be honest and have true integrity as they evaluate their decisions. Help them to see that to side with the issue of allowing any sexual behavior to be brought into the workplace in behavior and speech is not what the civil rights act is about.
We cry out to you on behalf of those involved in these cases. As a nation we are being bullied by lawsuits please regarding these issues. Please help reason to prevail.

Brenda B
October 8, 2019

Father I pray that you moooooove mightily in the hearts and minds of Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh and grant the courage and conviction to do what You would have them do. Prompt each Justice to do what is most honoring to You and to NOT deter or WAIVER from that conviction, but to be compelled by You Yourself, to guide them and prompt them at this most pivotal and crucial moment in our country’s history. May the decisions be righteous ones, in the name of Jesus, amen.

URGENT SUPREME COURT PRAYER REQUEST | Intercessors for America
October 8, 2019

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