LGBT Job Discrimination Is Prohibited by Civil Rights Law, Federal Appeals Court Rules

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbt-job-discrimination-prohibited-civil-rights-law-federal-appeals-court-n742751

by PETE WILLIAMS
NBC
APR 4 2017, 8:22 PM ET

A federal appeals court in Chicago ruled Tuesday that long-standing federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination on the job against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees.

It was the first ruling of its kind from a federal appeals court.

The decision, from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination."

Federal law forbids workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, but it does not explicitly mention sexual orientation, and the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue.

But the appeals court, in an 8-3 decision, said "it would require considerable calisthenics to remove the 'sex' from 'sexual orientation.'"

Great news!  Even more encouraging in that most of the judges concurring on this ruling were appointees of Republican presidents.

The headline is slightly misleading.  It's a good start.  The court opinion looks like it covers all LGB folks.

"... and we conclude today that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination."  - 7th Federal Appeals Court

Now we need to establish grounds for treating discrimination on gender identity or presentation  as a form of sex discrimination.  That's a bit of case law still to be done.  Then I'll be happy.

LambdaLegal did a great job in pushing this through the full panel, though.  Big task, and well done!