The View hosts celebrated the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling yesterday that extended the meaning of “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ban on employment discrimination to also now include gender identity and sexual orientation. Co-host Joy Behar reacted with glee, mocking Trump voters before trying to shame Justice Clarence Thomas.
Behar began by laughing at conservatives because Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the liberal justices on this ruling:
I was shocked and I say bravo Neil Gorsuch and there's hope for America, you know, I feel much better today about the whole situation. You know, what a disappointment this must be for the Trump base. I mean, they overlooked Stormy Daniels. They overlooked the grab them by the genitals remarks. They overlooked making fun of the handicapped. They overlooked locking children up, taking them away from their parents, all for the Supreme Court. Now this is the thanks they get. I’m sure they’re not happy today.
After jeering at conservatives, she went on to attack Justice Clarence Thomas personally for his dissenting opinion, trying to shame him over his interracial marriage as somehow meaning he should have sided with the liberal justices.
If Behar was a conservative, leftists would say she was “whitesplaining” to a black man:
And may I just say one more thing. Alito and Kavanaugh, particularly Judge Thomas should hang his head in shame. This is a man who is in fact married to a caucasian woman which was illegal until 1967 when the Supreme Court voted in favor of loving versus Virginia. They voted for integrated marriage in 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Loving v. Virginia and they voted for integrated marriage in 1967. And that was, again, decided by the Supreme Court which is where he sits so he should know better.
But co-host Sunny Hostin complained the ruling “didn’t go far enough” because it did not force small businesses to comply, and it provided exceptions for “public accommodations” and “health care” professionals.
She wanted everything in Nancy Pelosi’s “Equality Act” to pass, which would force employers to pay for abortions and gender reassignment surgery; force health care professionals to perform abortions, and force schools and businesses to let men who “identify” as women enter women's bathrooms and locker rooms, for starters. Hostin characterized this bill as “the same treatment as everyone else” but obviously that is not the case:
I think this is as historic as you know the 2015 same sex marriage ruling by the Supreme Court. But there's still a way to go in the struggle for rights for the LGBTQ community because this decision only applies to job discrimination. It does not apply to jobs where there are 15 or fewer employees, small businesses. We know that 1 in 6 Americans are employed by small businesses. There is no protection for that community in those businesses. The other thing is it doesn't extend the rights to the work -- public accommodations. It doesn't extend the right to health care. It doesn't extend the right to housing. That should be a concern to every American because these rights, this equality, should be across the board. It is time for our LGBTQ community to enjoy the same civil rights that all of us enjoy. So, while I am happy and I am ecstatic that we have come this far, it's just not far enough. I know there was a house bill passed, the equality act, that would extend these protections, but it's sat in the senate since 2019. That is Mitch McConnell's doing. People should be up in arms. That bill needs to be passed.
Whoopi Goldberg agreed with her co-hosts, and like Behar, equated it to the Civil Rights Movement. “Well, I think it's kind of a great thing, but it's like many civil rights. We seem to piecemeal everything,” adding that gay rights seem to come “in shavings.”
Read the transcript, below:
ABC's The View
06/16/20
11:02 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: Joy, you were I'm told in shock.
JOY BEHAR: I was. I was shocked and I say bravo Neil Gorsuch and there's hope for America, you know, I feel much better today about the whole situation. You know, what a disappointment this must be for the Trump base. I mean, they overlooked Stormy Daniels. They overlooked the grab them by the genitals remarks. They overlooked making fun of the handicapped. They overlooked locking children up, taking them away from their parents, all for the Supreme Court. Now this is the thanks they get. I’m sure they’re not happy today.
And may I just say one more thing. Alito and Kavanaugh, particularly Judge Thomas should hang his head in shame. This is a man who is in fact married to a caucasian woman which was illegal until 1967 when the Supreme Court voted in favor of loving versus Virginia. They voted for integrated marriage in 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Loving v. Virginia and they voted for integrated marriage in 1967. And that was, again, decided by the Supreme Court which is where he sits so he should know better. The other two are lost cases. But yes I am happy about all this today.
GOLDBERG: Sunny, how much do you think it moves the dial for the LGBTQ community?
HOSTIN: Well, listen, this is historic. There's just no question about that. I think this is as historic as you know the 2015 same sex marriage ruling by the Supreme Court. But there's still a way to go in the struggle for rights for the LGBTQ community because this decision only applies to job discrimination. It does not apply to jobs where there are 15 or fewer employees, small businesses. We know that 1 in 6 Americans are employed by small businesses. There is no protection for that community in those businesses. The other thing is it doesn't extend the rights to the work -- public accommodations. It doesn't extend the right to health care. It doesn't extend the right to housing. So that should be a concern to every American because these rights, this equality, should be across the board. It is time for our LGBTQ community to enjoy the same civil rights that all of us enjoy. So, while I am happy and I am ecstatic that we have come this far, it's just not far enough. I know there was a house bill passed, the equality act, that would extend these protections, to things like housing, medical care and public accommodations but it's sat in the Senate since 2019. That is Mitch McConnell's doing. People should be up in arms because that bill needs to be passed.
(....)
GOLDBERG: All right. Well, I think it's kind of a great thing, but it's like many civil rights. We seem to piecemeal everything. Because realistically if you weren't gay or so and so wasn't black or so and so wasn’t Hispanic your rights as Americans would be very clear cut. But for some reason now we all have to, get it in shavings. Maybe we'll figure out what to do.
