The mom of a late Long Island man who was among three plaintiffs in Monday’s landmark gay-rights US Supreme Court case told The Post that her son “would just be beyond excited” about the decision.
“He would be delighted,” Shirley Zarda said of her skydiver son Don Zarda, who died in a BASE-jumping accident in 2014 — but not before he joined the case demanding equal protection for gay, lesbian and transgender workers from employment discrimination.
“I just wish he was here to see in person,” said the 76-year-old widow from Blue Springs, Mo.
Don Zarda was working as a skydiving instructor in Central Islip when he was fired from his job in 2010 after telling a female customer he was gay. Don later explained that he had told the woman his sexual preference thinking it would put her at ease as they prepared for a tandem jump together, in which jumpers are tethered to each other.
The woman told her boyfriend, who complained to Don’s employer, which then fired the instructor.
Shirley Zarda said her son, a Missouri native, was “extremely upset” at being fired over his sexuality and filed suit.
“I was mad and upset,” too, the mom said. “I was always an advocate for him and the gay community and his rights.”
Don died in an extreme-sport accident four years later in Switzerland, she said — leaving the court fight to the family, mainly his little sister Melissa. Don’s partner at the time, Bill Moore, also offered support in the legal battle.
“We both absolutely agreed wholeheartedly we had to do this for Don and his legacy and all the other people in the nation,” Melissa Zarda, a 43-year-old graphic designer from Kansas City, Mo., told The Post on Monday, referring to herself and Moore.
“There was no question we were going to ever do this.”
But “it was really hard to carry on,” Shirley Zarda said. “It was kind of all against us because [Don] wasn’t here.”
A federal appeals court in New York first sided with the Zardas, but the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals knocked down that ruling.
The US Supreme Court then ruled 6-3 Monday that gay and lesbian workers are indeed protected by a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII, which bars job discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
“my son is smiling down upon us,” Shirley Parda excitedly wrote on her Facebook page after the ruling, which also involved two other plaintiffs, a gay man and a transgender woman.
She added to The Post, “I’m really absolutely excited. … It’s been a long fight.
“I cried — a lot — because I really miss him,” the mom added of her son and the moment she learned of the Supreme Court decision.
“I am proud of him.”
Melissa Zarda said of her brother, “Don would be so happy.
“I would say that I was a little suprised” by the Supreme Court ruling,” she added.
She said that the next step is to get Congress to approve the proposed Equality Act, a bill that calls for the extension of more protections for LGBT people.