Workers who were targeted for harassment because they were perceived to be gay, lesbian or transgender historically had little recourse against cruel and harmful harassment.
Gays, lesbians and transgender workers are not specifically mentioned as a “protected class” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin. And federal anti-harassment laws do not protect workers unless they are members of a protected class.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15, 2020 by a vote of 6-3 held the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, states that under Title VII “[a]n individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions … [and] it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.”
The tide began to turn in 2014 when the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) unilaterally decided that Title VII’s “broad prohibition of discrimination” on the basis of sex “will offer coverage to lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals in certain circumstances.”
The EEOC ruling was made in a case filed by Leon Brooker, a clerk at a U.S. Postal Service distribution service in Atlanta, GA, who was forced to wage a lonely but important legal battle to be free from sexual orientation harassment. Continue reading “Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Workplace”