WASHINGTON — A Clayton County man's claims of job discrimination based on his sexual orientation will be heard by the nation's highest court, Tuesday.
Gerald Bostock said he worked for the county for ore than 10 years as an advocate for abuse and neglect victims who came through the juvenile court system. Bostock said it was a job he loved - and had great success in - until he joined a gay recreational softball league.
"And that's when things started to change for me," Bostock said.
He said he began hearing disparaging comments about his decision to join the team. Weeks later, in 2013, he said he was fired.
"I was fired for being gay," he said.
The county argued that Bostock was let go because of the results of an audit of funds he managed. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Bostock’s claim in a three-page opinion that noted the court was bound by a 1979 decision that held “discharge for homosexuality is not prohibited by Title VII.”
Many years and appeals later, Bostock's case has landed in front of the Supreme Court, in which the court will decide his and two other cases of alleged job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
At issue is whether Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, protects LGBT people from job discrimination.
Title VII does not specifically mention sexual orientation or transgender status, but federal appeals courts in Chicago and New York have ruled recently that gay and lesbian employees are entitled to protection from discrimination.
The big question is whether the Supreme Court, with a strengthened conservative majority, will do the same. The cases are the court’s first on LGBT rights since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who authored the court’s major gay rights opinions. Since then, President Donald Trump appointed two justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
The Obama administration supported treating LGBT discrimination claims as sex discrimination, but the Trump administration has changed course. The Trump Justice Department has argued that Title VII was not intended to provide protections to gay or transgender workers. The administration also separately withdrew Obama-era guidance to educators to treat claims of transgender students as sex discrimination.
The Supreme Court will decide Bostock's case when it is presented before the Court, Oct. 8 at 10 a.m.
Material from the Associated Press appears in this report.
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