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Yost Argues Federal Laws Don't Protect Against LGBTQ Discrimination

Dave Yost speaks at the Ohio Republican Party event, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio. Yost was elected as the next Ohio attorney general.
Tony Dejak
/
Associated Press
Dave Yost speaks at the Ohio Republican Party event, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio. Yost was elected as the next Ohio attorney general.

Ohio's attorney general is joining the U.S. Department of Justice in arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that federal civil rights laws provide no protection against workplace discrimination for LGBTQ employees.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Attorney General Dave Yost said Friday he has joined a friend-of-the-court brief filed by other states arguing the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on gender doesn't apply to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Yost says it's up to Congress and not the judiciary to write laws expanding such protections.

The Supreme Court in April decided to hear cases involving people who claim they were fired because of sexual orientation and one that involves a funeral home employee fired after disclosing she was transitioning from male to female.