June SCOTUS Decisions are Class Issues
Policy and Advocacy Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Division Gender and Sexuality Socioeconomic and Class Issues in Higher Education Undocumented Immigrants and Allies
June 19, 2020
The landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) that extends protections for LGBTQ persons is a moment that the Socioeconomic Issues in Higher Education Knowledge Community would like to affirm. Nationally, only 26% of campuses expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Furthermore, we also know that gay men earn less than their non-gay counterparts (Antecol, Jong, Steinberger, 2008). Furthermore, transgender employees have different experiences than their lesbian, gay, and bisexual counterparts (Sawyer, Thoroughgood, Webster, 2016) and transwomen often live in extreme poverty (Schilt & Wiswall, 2006). Thus, these concerns are certainly concerns for our knowledge community.
We recognize that this ruling does not end the fight for social and economic justice for our LGBTQ colleagues, students, and community members. However, we wanted to take a moment to note the importance of this decision and highlight that we know that these issues reflect intersecting oppressions. We stand with you to celebrate in this moment, and continue the fight for equality.
We also want to affirm the SCOTUS ruling that blocks the ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Individuals who signed up for DACA were given guarantees that should be honored. It is estimated that DACA participants contribute $60 billion dollars to the American economy. DACA is certainly a class issue. However, we affirm DACA participants not for what they do for our nation, but because we affirm their humanity.
In solidarity,
Shonda and Mitchell
References
Antecol, Heather & Jong, Anneke & Steinberger, Michael. (2008). The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap: The Role of Occupational Sorting and Human Capital. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 61. 518-543. 10.1177/001979390806100405.
Sawyer, K., Thoroughgood, C., & Webster, J. (2016). Queering the gender binary: Understanding transgender workplace experiences. In Sexual orientation and transgender issues in organizations (pp. 21-42). Springer, Cham.
Schilt, K. & Wiswall, M. (2006). Economics, N. Y. U. F. A. S. Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences Kristen Schilt Rice University Matthew Wiswall New York University.