Partner of skydiving instructor fired for being gay says ‘this is a battle we have to win’
The Supreme Court will decide whether it was legal to fire Donald Zarda for being gay. (Donald Zarda/ Facebook)
Next week the US Supreme Court will hear the case of a skydiving instructor who was fired for being gay and his long-time partner has said that “this is a battle we have to win.”
Donald Zarda was fired in 2010 from his job at Skydive Long Island after he attempted to make a female customer more comfortable about the fact that they were strapped together by telling her he was gay.
Zarda sadly passed away during a BASE jumping accident in 2014 and since then his partner William Moore has been “fighting on his behalf” as part of Zarda’s estate.
Moore wrote in a piece for USA Today: “Don did not live long enough to see his day in court. Now, years later, his case has made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
“Along with another case of a man who was fired for being gay in Georgia, Don’s case will determine whether or not it is legal for employers in the United States to terminate an employee on the simple basis of being LGBTQ.”
Donald Zarda. (Donald Zarda/ Facebook)
On Tuesday October 8, three cases will be heard by the US Supreme to decided whether current law, specifically Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects LGBT+ from workplace discrimination.
Moore continued: “It’s infuriating and painful that we are still having this debate in 2019, yet here we are. And the stakes could not be higher… It is imperative the court does not sanction prejudice in that way. The consequences would be dire.
“I am tired. I miss Don, and I think about him every day… Some people think that after we were given the right to marry, discrimination against us vanished.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Here we are, still having to fight. And this is a battle we have to win. Don deserved better, and so do we all.”
