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Community colleges are living, breathing monuments to inclusion. They have the most racially diverse student bodies of any sector of higher education, the largest percentage of women in leadership roles and a proud history of taking the top 100 percent of the students who apply. For all of their flaws, they are fundamentally about giving everybody a chance.
In that spirit, then, I offer my unapologetic cheers for the Supreme Court in ruling Monday that employment discrimination along lines of sexual orientation is illegal. It’s the right decision, and we’ll be a better country for it.
I’ll admit that I was surprised at the outcome, and especially surprised that Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion. Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Trump, is a vocal proponent of “textualism,” or the idea that written laws should be taken as literally as possible. Like many observers, over the years I’ve learned to take claims of “textualism” as mere fig leaves for a particular political agenda. In this case, though, textualism pushed in the other direction, and Gorsuch followed. It was more than a fig leaf. I didn’t expect that, but I’m glad to have been wrong.
Court decisions go only so far, of course; the history of racism in America after the Brown v. Board decision proves that. But a win for fairness is a win, even as the devil waits among the details.
So thank you, Supreme Court, for a much-needed moment of inclusion. Congratulations to the entire LGBTQIA+ community on a genuine and surprising win. And congratulations to Americans generally for suddenly finding ourselves in a country that’s just a little bit more decent than it was the day before. I needed to believe that was still possible. Thank you.
