In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring the ways in which law plays a role in discrimination based on sexual orientation. In his article for Canopy Forum, Johan D. van der Vyer of Emory University compares discrimination in employment practices in the U.S. to dissimilar legislation in South Africa to investigate international discussions on sexual orientation.
"The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was the first in the world to provide constitutional protection to homosexual and transsexual persons by including sexual orientation in the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the constitutional non-discrimination provision," notes van der Vyer.
As these conversations on sexual orientation protection materialize, however, there are discussions of the “fine print” that inhibits these laws from fulfilling their effect.
In the case of South Africa, the question concerns whether sphere sovereignty, where the State in principle does not interfere with domestic decisions and practices, has allowed for the Church to suspend queer ministers.
As for the United States, the question becomes whether or not Chapter VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guarantees protection against sexual orientation discrimination. The latter has been debated, as legal scholars question if sexual orientation is included in the concept of “sex,” emphasized in the Civil Rights Act.
Must “sex” in this context be interpreted as it was perceived in 1964 or must it be applied in view of a contemporary understanding of the term?
Read the original article on Canopy Forum.
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