Friday, August 28, 2009
Federal Court Decision: Is Gender Stereotyping of Gay Employees Illegal?
dr jillian t weiss
http://transworkplace.blogspot.com/2009/08/federal-court-decision-is-gender.htmlThe US Third Circuit Court of Appeals, covering New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, recently released a decision in the case of Prowel v. Wise Business Forms. This case is notable because it finds enough evidence to move forward with a claim of employment discrimination based on "gender stereotyping" against a gay man under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This is a hot topic among courts these days, with the nearby Second Circuit, which covers New York, Connecticut and Vermont, holding in previous cases that such a claim is not allowed when the complaining employee is a gay person, because discrimination based on sexual orientation is not prohibited by Title VII. They do also say that theoretically such claims by gay employees should be allowed, but then they throw up their hands and say something like "it's wayyy too hard to sort out all these different types of gay people, so fuhgeddaboutit." Of course, the Second Circuit's position is bogus, because gender is different from sexual orientation. This is why the ENDA bill is important, because it will get rid of these legal technicalities that arbitrarily and capriciously provide job protections to some, but not to others similarly situated.
