The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the remarkable question, here in 2019, of whether employers may freely discriminate against an entire class of Americans because of who they are.

Even more remarkable is that Pennsylvania law does not provide protection from the discrimination at issue, which should be resolved.

The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on race and sex. But it does not specifically exclude discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. In recent years, several federal courts have ruled the law bars such bias under the broad umbrella of sex-based discrimination.

It was not clear how the court would vote after hearing arguments. But if the court gives its blessing to blatant discrimination against an entire class of Americans, Congress easily can correct it by amending the Civil Rights Act to cover sexual orientation and sexual identity. It has included such provisions in a series of laws on more specific subjects that have passed since the 1964 law, including the relatively recent Violence Against Women Act and the Hate Crimes Act.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania law does not specifically outlaw discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or identity. At least 40 cities in the state, including Scranton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Reading have ordinances outlawing such discrimination.

Bills to correct that have come close to passing several times over the last decade, with broad bipartisan support, including from Gov. Tom Corbett and Gov. Tom Wolf. And in August 2018, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission announced it would accept discrimination complaints from LGBTQ residents under state law barring sex-based discrimination.

But as the federal case demonstrates, the law matters. Lawmakers finally should pass the specific provisions barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.