Elizabeth Beier
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The Supreme Court will decide whether LGBT workers can be fired for who they are

The Lily·6 May 2019A feminist project by the Washington Post

Written and illustrated by Elizabeth Beier ยท Art direction by Rachel Orr

An explainer on three employment discrimination cases, the state by state patchwork underneath them, and what the ruling could reach.

Published by The Lily, where the original sits behind the Post’s paywall. The complete piece is below, republished by the author.

A wide ink-and-wash drawing of the US Supreme Court building in magenta and white against a black sky, its columned portico and pediment towering over the steps, with the seated marble figures flanking the entrance. At the foot of the steps two tiny protesters hold signs reading EQUAL and RIGHTS, one of them also carrying a striped flag.Hand-lettered white and magenta text fills the top half of a black square, above the same magenta drawing of the Supreme Court building with two small protesters holding EQUAL and RIGHTS signs on the steps.A hand-drawn map of the United States on black, with each state filled in one of four shades from deep magenta to white according to a legend below it; most of the South, the Plains and the Mountain West are left white for no protections, while the West Coast, Southwest and Northeast are dark magenta. Hand-lettered white and magenta text sits above the map and a four-swatch key runs across the bottom.A magenta-and-white brush portrait of a woman with shoulder-length hair, rectangular glasses, a beaded necklace and a floral-print top, looking calmly at the viewer from the left side of a black square. Hand-lettered white and magenta text runs across the top, and a smaller magenta caption sits to the right of her shoulder.A pale pink watercolor scroll with curled ends floats on a black background, filled with hand-lettered black statutory text, with a parenthetical credit lettered in white beneath it. Magenta and white hand lettering fills the space above the scroll.A grayscale brush portrait of Barack Obama in a dark suit with a magenta tie, one hand raised open-palmed mid-gesture, set against black flecked with small magenta specks. A magenta ribbon banner across the bottom is lettered with his name, and hand-lettered white and magenta text fills the top.A grayscale brush portrait of Jeff Sessions in a suit, mouth slightly open, holding up a pale pink sheet of paper covered in hand-lettered black text, against a black background. A magenta ribbon banner at the lower left carries his name, and white and magenta hand lettering fills the upper right.Two grayscale brush portraits of men in dark suits and ties side by side on a mottled dark gray background, the left one impassive, the right one grimacing with teeth showing. A magenta ribbon banner under each is lettered GORSUCH and KAVANAUGH, with hand-lettered white and magenta text above them.A large charcoal-and-magenta profile of Donald Trump fills the left half of a black square, his mouth open in mid-shout and his hair rendered in loose scribbled strokes. A magenta ribbon banner at the bottom is lettered TRUMP, and hand-lettered white and magenta text is stacked down the right side.Two protesters against a pink wash: a Black woman in sunglasses and a magenta top raises a large hand-lettered sign overhead, and behind her a smiling woman with glasses and short hair holds another sign at chest height. Hand-lettered white and magenta text fills a pink band across the top of the panel.

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