In this June 26, 2015, file photo, a crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the U.S. On Monday, June 15, 2020, the the Supreme Court ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.

The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers.

“An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The outcome is expected to have a big impact for the estimated 8.1 million LGBT workers across the country because most states don't protect them from workplace discrimination. An estimated 11.3 million LGBT people live in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA law school.

The Supreme Court cases involved two gay men and a transgender woman who sued for employment discrimination after they lost their jobs.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Tuesday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.