NPR

Are LGBTQ Employees Safe From Discrimination? A New Supreme Court Case Will Decide

The court will examine whether workplace discrimination protections extend to LGBTQ people — a ruling that will have widespread implications in more than 25 states without such safeguards.
Kathleen O'Donnell, left, with her wife, Casey. Since 2014, the couple has lived in Billings, Mont., where there is no explicit law that protects LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing, employment or public accommodations.

It's a hectic morning at the home of Kathleen O'Donnell and her wife, Casey. Kathleen is getting their 4-year-old foster daughter ready for the park. She got placed with them overnight. Casey is wrangling the four dogs. They've already got their 11-year-old son off to school.

They live on a tree-lined street in Billings, Mont. It's a place they've called home since 2014.

"All of my family lives in Billings, so with a kid we wanted to be near them," Kathleen said.

But when the same-sex couple made the move, they knew it came with risks. While five Montana cities have local nondiscrimination ordinances on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, Billings, the state's largest city, is not one of them.

Nor does the state have an that protects LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing, employment or public accommodations. Neither do more than

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