A Welcome Supreme Court Ruling

 Justice for gays and lesbians has been expanded with the March 4th Supreme Court ruling on sexual harassment in the workplace. The unanimous opinion, written (surprisingly) by Justice Antonin Scalia, defined conduct, not the sex or motivation of the people involved, as the determinant of whether sexual harassment amounts to discrimination on the basis of sex.

Previous to this ruling, gays who suffered same-sex harassment could not hope for justice through the courts. Lower Federal courts either refused to accept same sex harassment cases or would only consider those in which the victim was a heterosexual harassed by a gay man or lesbian. The Supreme Court’s ruling makes the sexual orientation of either the victim or the harasser irrelevant.