During oral argument earlier this month in the case of a woman who was fired for being transgender, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch asked a question that I’ve been thinking about ever since.

Aimee Stephens was fired after she informed her boss of six years that she is a woman, though her sex assigned at birth was male. She argued her discharge was unlawful sex discrimination. (I am part of the legal team representing Ms. Stephens as well as the estate of Donald Zarda, who was fired for being gay and whose case was heard the same day as Ms. Stephens’s).