The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of LGBT rights in the workplace this week, a surprise victory for many advocates who feared a conservative majority in the court would not grant such broad protections.
Sue O'Connell, co-publisher of Bay Windows, told Boston Public Radio on Friday the ruling is "beyond historic."
"It's as big, if not bigger, than the marriage ruling from the Supreme Court a couple years ago," she said.
O'Connell said when she volunteered in the 1990s with the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the country, the organization mapped out a plan to get the "right to work" enshrined.
"If we could get the right to work and not be discriminated at work, then our coworkers would get to know us and see that we're good people and just trying to do a job," she said.
O'Connell said transgender people have been "continuously left (behind) as the train has left the station," when it comes to inclusion in organizing.
"It's an uphill battle, and it's continuing for trans folk who are being targeted by the Trump administration in many ways," she said. "But this ruling, because it included a transgender case ... makes clear that you cannot simply fire someone for being transgender."
Sue O'Connell is also co-publisher of the South End News, NECN's political commentator and explainer-in-chief.
