But just look at what Congress wrote. Title VII makes it “unlawful” for an employer “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge … or otherwise to discriminate against any individual … because of such individual’s … sex.” Categorical words. No relevant exceptions — none, in particular, for sexual orientation.

So if employees John and Joanne both have crushes on Sarah, and Joanne but not John gets the boot, how could Joanne not have suffered illegal discrimination on the basis of her being female, her biological sex? Or if John, biologically male, becomes Jane and comes in wearing a dress like Joanne’s, and is fired for it, while Joanne, born female, keeps her job, how is that not illegal sex discrimination as well? Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s textualist answer for the court: Both cases describe wrongs. Gorsuch writes, “The employer intentionally singles out an employee to fire based in part on the employee’s sex,” period — and like it or not, by the plain terms of the statute, that’s not allowed.