Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
Page Number: 58

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

21 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

of  racial  discrimination  in  this  country  not  to  understand 
what is at stake in such cases . . . .  A prohibition on ‘race-
mixing’  was  . . .  grounded  in  bigotry  against  a  particular 
race and was an integral part of preserving the rigid hier-
archical distinction that denominated members of the black 
race as inferior to whites.”  883 F. 3d, at 158–159 (Lynch, 
J., dissenting).

Discrimination because of sexual orientation is different.  

It cannot be regarded as a form of sex discrimination on the
ground that applies in race cases since discrimination be-
cause of sexual orientation is not historically tied to a pro-
ject that aims to subjugate either men or women.  An em-
ployer  who  discriminates  on  this  ground  might  be  called 
“homophobic” or “transphobic,” but not sexist.  See Wittmer 
v.  Phillips  66  Co.,  915  F.  3d  328,  338  (CA5  2019)  (Ho,  J., 
concurring). 

3 
The  opinion  of  the  Court  intimates  that  the  term  “sex”
was not universally understood in 1964 to refer just to the
categories of male and female, see ante, at 5, and while the 
Court  does  not  take  up  any  alternative  definition  as  a 
ground for its decision, I will say a word on this subject. 

As previously noted, the definitions of “sex” in the una-
bridged dictionaries in use in the 1960s are reproduced in
Appendix A, infra.  Anyone who examines those definitions 
can see that the primary definition in every one of them re-
fers  to  the  division  of  living  things  into  two  groups,  male
and  female,  based  on  biology,  and  most  of  the  definitions
further down the list are the same or very similar.  In addi-
tion,  some  definitions  refer  to  heterosexual  sex  acts.    See 

—————— 
tinctions  based  on  sex.   Title  42  U. S. C.  §2000e–2(e)(1)  allows  for  “in-
stances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational
qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of [a] partic-
ular business or enterprise.”  Race is wholly absent from this list.