LGB workers protected from discrimination, federal commission rules

Bob Sodervick waves a gay pride flag outside of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 5, 2012 in San Francisco, California. A federal appeals court announced that it will not rehear arguments on the California's controversial Prop 8 same-sex ban paving the way for the case to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. In February, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the same-sex marriage ban discriminated against gays and lesbians.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that lesbian, gay and bisexual employees are all protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Beyond same-sex marriage, LGBT activists had their sights on another issue: discrimination in the workplace.

California is one of many states that already have protections in place that prevent employers from discriminating against or firing a worker based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In many other states, however, that's perfectly legal.

But this week, a decision by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that lesbian, gay and bisexual employees are all protected. (Transgender employees are protected by an earlier ruling in 2012)

It lights a fire under Congress and the Supreme Court to take on this issue, themselves, to make the law more clear.

Douglas NeJaime, professor of law at UCLA and faculty director of the Williams Institute, joins Take Two to break down what this means for employees everywhere.