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The federal appeals court in New York today issued a victory for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, ruling that workers can鈥檛 be fired based on their sexual orientation and rebuffing the Trump administration鈥檚 insistence that they can.

That might sound like common sense, but in two decisions from the 2000s, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit wrongly concluded that discriminating against gay people isn鈥檛 prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in the workplace. Last spring, the court agreed to take a fresh look at the question following a landmark decision by the federal appeals court in Chicago recognizing that discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal sex discrimination.

As the court today , there is no way to separate discrimination based on sexual orientation from discrimination based on sex. That鈥檚 because, to 鈥渋dentify the sexual orientation of a particular person, we need to know the sex of the person and that of the people to whom he or she is attracted.鈥� The court noted the futility of trying to parse the evidence in such cases, as illustrated by judges tallying up 鈥渆pithets such as 鈥榓ss wipe,鈥� 鈥榝ag,鈥� 鈥榞ay,鈥� 鈥榪ueer,鈥� 鈥榬eal man,鈥� and 鈥榝em鈥� to determine whether discrimination is based on sex or sexual orientation.鈥� As the decision acknowledged, such 鈥渓exical bean counting鈥� is absurd and unwarranted, because discrimination against gay people is based on both.

In rejecting efforts to artificially limit the scope of sex discrimination to exclude lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, the Second Circuit noted important historical parallels that the 老澳门开奖结果 raised in its amicus brief. It would be unthinkable today, for example, to say that is perfectly lawful under federal law. But courts did not always understand it to be sex discrimination, initially dismissing sexual harassment claims out of hand in the 1970s, and recognizing such conduct as unlawful only after a in 1986. So, too, courts that once discounted sexual orientation discrimination claims now recognize it to be not only wrong, but illegal.

The Second Circuit鈥檚 opinion is an important victory for LGBT people. It鈥檚 also a big defeat for the Trump administration, which to tell the court that employers should be free to fire LGBT people under federal law. That move was disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, given the administration鈥檚 efforts to embolden discrimination against LGBT people at work, , and in daily life. President Trump may be a bully, but he doesn鈥檛 get the last word on LGBT people鈥檚 rights.