Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
Page Number: 57.0

20 

BOSTOCK v. CLAYTON COUNTY 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

different matter. 

2 
A second prominent argument made in support of the re-
sult that the Court now reaches analogizes discrimination
against gays and lesbians to discrimination against a per-
son who is married to or has an intimate relationship with 
a person of a different race.  Several lower court cases have 
held that discrimination on this ground violates Title VII. 
See, e.g., Holcomb v. Iona College, 521 F. 3d 130 (CA2 2008); 
Parr v. Woodmen of World Life Ins. Co., 791 F. 2d 888 (CA11 
1986).  And the logic of these decisions, it is argued, applies
equally where an employee or applicant is treated unfavor-
ably because he or she is married to, or has an intimate re-
lationship with, a person of the same sex. 

This argument totally ignores the historically rooted rea-
son why discrimination on the basis of an interracial rela-
tionship constitutes race discrimination.  And without tak-
ing  history  into  account,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the 
decisions in question fit the terms of Title VII.

Recall that Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer
to discriminate against an individual “because of such indi-
vidual’s  race.”  42  U. S. C.  §2000e–2(a)  (emphasis  added). 
So if an employer is happy to employ whites and blacks but 
will not employ any employee in an interracial relationship, 
how  can  it  be  said  that  the  employer  is  discriminating 
against either whites or blacks “because of such individual’s
race”?  This employer would be applying the same rule to
all its employees regardless of their race.

The answer is that this employer is discriminating on a
ground that history tells us is a core form of race discrimi-
nation.18  “It would require absolute blindness to the history 

—————— 

18 Notably, Title VII recognizes that in light of history distinctions on 
the basis of race are always disadvantageous, but it permits certain dis-