A gay-rights flag outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ

A brief set to be filed Wednesday in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 206 corporations asserts that ending discrimination against LGBTQ workers is “good for business, employees, and the U.S. economy.”

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Todd Anten In New York is counsel of record in the pro bono brief, one of a wave of filings expected this week in three consolidated cases set for argument Oct. 8: R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, Bostock v. Clayton County, and Altitude Express v. Zarda.

Together, the three cases raise the question whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination “because of sex,” can be interpreted to apply to sexual orientation and transgender status.

Federal appeals courts are divided over the scope of protection for gay, lesbian and transgender workers under civil rights laws. The U.S. Justice Department is expected to urge the justices to exclude federal civil-rights protections for those workers.

A statement by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the backers of the brief, boasts that “The landmark brief has more corporate signers than any previous business brief in an LGBTQ non-discrimination case.”

Emphasizing the scale of the support for LGBTQ workers, the brief lists all 206 corporations at both the beginning and end of the filing.

“The 206 businesses that join this brief as amici collectively employ over 7 million employees, and comprise over $5 trillion in revenue,” Anten wrote.

“At this critical moment in the fight for LGBTQ equality, these leading businesses are sending a clear message to the Supreme Court that LGBTQ people should, like their fellow Americans, continue to be protected from discrimination,” said Jay Brown, a vice president of the HRC Foundation.

The companies that joined the brief, Anten said, “support the principle that no one should be passed over for a job, paid less, fired, or subjected to harassment or any other form of discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity … When workplaces are free from discrimination against LGBT employees, everyone can do their best work, with substantial benefits for both employers and employees.”

In 2017, Quinn Emanuel's Anten had filed an amicus brief on behalf of 50 companies supporting broad LGBT workplace rights. He told NLJ in an interview last year that Lambda Legal had reached out to the firm, which had done a pro bono relationship with the advocacy group.

Tuesday's brief (posted below) follows in the footsteps of other mass-business filings in high-profile Supreme Court cases.

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In the 2003 affirmative action case Grutter v. Bollinger, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor cited two business briefs and wrote, “Major American businesses have made clear that the skills needed in today's increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints.” Similar briefs were filed in subsequent affirmative action cases.

In the realm of more recent gay rights cases, businesses have also been vocal in favor of equality. In the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, 379 employers and employer organizations filed a brief favoring same-sex marriage. Susan Baker Manning of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius was counsel of record in the same-sex marriage brief.