Federal Judge Strikes Down LGBTQ Protections Against Workplace DiscriminationJudge Matthew Kacsmaryk's ruling marks one of the most alarming judicial rollbacks of LGBTQ rights in recent memory.
Link to Full ArticleTruthout - Erin Reed, ErinInTheMorning
Published May 16, 2025
On Thursday, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk — a far-right federal judge in the Northern District of Texas with a record of aligning with the GOP's most extreme legal positions — issued a ruling declaring that Title VII no longer protects LGBTQ+ people from workplace discrimination. The decision directly contradicts the Supreme Court's landmark 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is, by definition, sex discrimination.
The judge reached a verdict that Title VII only protects "firing someone simply for being homosexual or transgender," but that it does not protect transgender or gay people from "harassment".
"In sum, Title VII does not bar workplace employment policies that protect the inherent differences between men and women," Kacsmaryk writes in his ruling.
Judge Kacsmaryk further argued that disparate treatment of transgender employees does not constitute unequal treatment, reasoning that "a male employee must use male facilities like other males" — a statement that erases transgender identity altogether. He extended that logic to dress codes and pronouns, ... because it applies "equally" to everyone. The argument mirrors discredited legal reasoning ... It's a circular logic designed to mask exclusion as neutrality.--------------------------
