After years of failed attempts to pass state-level anti-discrimination laws, LGBTQ workers in Kansas and Missouri now have federal protections following a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday.

Anti-discrimination bills have languished in the Missouri Legislature for 22 years. Proposals in the Kansas Legislature have also failed to gain traction, despite fervent advocacy from the state’s first openly LGBTQ lawmakers.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sex, extends protections to LGBTQ workers.

“Honestly, I’m shocked. This is incredible,” Davis Hammet, a co-creator of the rainbow-painted Equality House in Topeka, said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in the majority opinion that an “employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex.”

He continued: “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

But Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that “the concept of discrimination because of ‘sex’ is different from discrimination because of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.’”

Hammet predicted the historic decision would open the door to protecting LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in other areas of law.

“Hopefully, we’ll see this apply to all facets of discrimination, including housing,” Hammet said. “It’s still legal in Kansas to kick people out of their home for being trans.”

Tom Witt, director of Equality Kansas, said the decision represented one more stop in a “long road” toward full equality. He said his organization will continue to press for a state-level non-discrimination law, noting that LGBTQ Kansans continue to have no protections when it comes to housing and public accommodations.

“We still have far to go,” Witt said.

In Missouri, Attorney General Eric Schmitt had signed on to a brief arguing that the Supreme Court should rule against the employees. He maintained state legislatures should decide nondiscrimination laws, not courts, according to his spokesperson Chris Nuelle.

“In the amicus brief that we joined with other attorneys general, we made a textual argument as it relates to the original meaning of the law, and the Supreme Court has delivered their opinion - Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt believes strongly that every person should be treated with dignity under the law,” Nuelle said in a statement.

Monday’s decision went against previous rulings by federal judges in the Eighth Circuit, which includes Missouri, who have held that Title VII does not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation.

A federal lawsuit filed in 2018 by a married lesbian St. Louis-area couple, alleging discrimination by retirement community that would not allow them to move in together, was dismissed by a federal judge last year.

“The Eighth Circuit has squarely held that ‘Title VII does not prohibit discrimination against homosexuals,’” the judge wrote.

A lack of state protections have meant discrimination cases in Missouri have been dismissed. Courts have weighed that Missouri’s law only extends to discrimination based on gender, not sexual orientation.

In 2015, a state appeals court in Missouri dismissed a claim by a Kansas City-area man who said his employer, a paper recycling company, fired him for being gay. The court said it was bound by “the state of law as it currently exists.”

The Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA) has been filed annually for 22 years in the Missouri legislature, but has failed to win approval by both chambers during the same legislative session.

State Rep. Greg Razer, one of the few openly gay lawmakers in Missouri, called the day “a historic day in the march towards LGBTQ equality.”

“Justices appointed by presidents from both political parties today said that employment discrimination is not allowed,” Razer, a Kansas City Democrat, said in a statement.

Razer noted that passing MONA is still necessary to protect gay tenants from being evicted by landlords.

“Let’s not wait another 22 years for the Court to say the same about housing and public accommodations,” Razer said. “Now is the time for Missouri legislators to come together and pass MONA -- ending this conversation for all time.”

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat and the first openly LGBTQ Kansan elected to Congress, said the Supreme Court upheld the basic principle that no one should be fired “because of who they love or how they identify” and called the decision a “landmark victory for LGBTQ rights.”

“Our work to ensure every LGBTQ person can live free from discrimination is far from over, but this is an important step forward in the long march for equality,” Davids said in a statement.

In Kansas, officials have fought over discrimination for years.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt joined with nine other states in 2016 in suing the Obama administration over federal guidance that interpreted sex to include gender identity. The states dropped the lawsuit in 2017 after Trump dropped the guidance.

Earlier in 2015, Gov. Sam Brownback repealed an executive order that had extended anti-discrimination protections to state employees. Gov. Laura Kelly reimposed the order in one of her first acts after she took office in January 2019.

Kelly has signaled she supports a statewide anti-discrimination law, but the Republican-controlled Legislature didn’t advance a bill co-sponsored by dozens of lawmakers and championed by Reps. Susan Ruiz and Brandon Woodard, Democrats who are the first two openly LGBTQ lawmakers in the state.

“I am excited for what it means for LGBT workers here in our country,” Woodard said. “But still, it’s just another reminder of what we have left to do.”

This story was updated to include comments by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

The Star’s Bryan Lowry and the Associated Press contributed reporting.