They were commonplace and accepted twenty years ago. They're illegal now because of politics and political activism.

Pretty sure they have been illegal for way longer than 20 years, for example the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 and discriminating based on sexual orientation has been illegal since 1992, at least in California.

The big political fights we are seeing in USA are not local reality. It is like me being in Sweden saying that we aren't progressive enough since Poland has a lot of conservative views, and that therefore we need to add even more protections for women and minorities in Sweden until they are properly accepted in Poland. If someone told me that I have to be engaged in their rights in Poland or I am a misogynist and homophobic then I'd just sigh and ignore them.

> They're illegal now because of politics and political activism.

The point is that expecting the law to be upholded is hardly a political act. It's basic rule of law.

They are explicitly political. Not only that, they still happen, only became illegal due to political pressure, are not illegal everywhere, and are just two examples from many you can obviously think of.

The second example, employment discrimination against a gay person, is only illegal in the US in around 20 states. The other states do not include sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination laws, nor is it covered under Federal law.

They are illegal because the politics of the decades before us have decided they should be illegal.