Section 7

Citation: Section 7
Parent Document: Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2020-06-15
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4760997/bostock-v-clayton-county/ ↗

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distant and utterly unknown civilization. Statutes consist
of communications between members of a particular lin-
guistic community, one that existed in a particular place
and at a particular time, and these communications must
therefore be interpreted as they were understood by that
community at that time.
   For this reason, it is imperative to consider how Ameri-
cans in 1964 would have understood Title VII’s prohibition
of discrimination because of sex. To get a picture of this, we
may imagine this scene. Suppose that, while Title VII was
under consideration in Congress, a group of average Amer-
icans decided to read the text of the bill with the aim of
writing or calling their representatives in Congress and
conveying their approval or disapproval. What would these
ordinary citizens have taken “discrimination because of
sex” to mean? Would they have thought that this language
prohibited discrimination because of sexual orientation or
gender identity?
                              B
  The answer could not be clearer. In 1964, ordinary Amer-
icans reading the text of Title VII would not have dreamed
that discrimination because of sex meant discrimination be-
cause of sexual orientation, much less gender identity. The
ordinary meaning of discrimination because of “sex” was
discrimination because of a person’s biological sex, not sex-
ual orientation or gender identity. The possibility that dis-
crimination on either of these grounds might fit within
some exotic understanding of sex discrimination would not
have crossed their minds.
                            1
  In 1964, the concept of prohibiting discrimination “be-
cause of sex” was no novelty. It was a familiar and well-
understood concept, and what it meant was equal treat-
ment for men and women.
26               BOSTOCK v. CLAYTON COUNTY ALITO, J., dissenting

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