EEOC Urges Sex Orientation Discrimination Be Made Illegal

The EEOC is urging the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to consider sexual orientation discrimination illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. “[T]reatment of sexual orientation discrimination as distinct from sex discrimination is untenable and based on a fundamentally flawed premise,” the agency wrote in its filing. The EEOC outlined three major reasons the court should affirm its interpretation: sexual orientation discrimination necessarily involves gender stereotyping, something the Supreme Court has repeatedly said is banned under Title VII; sexual orientation discrimination is a type of associational discrimination, also in violation of Title VII; and, that sexual orientation is inherently a type of sex discrimination. A federal judge in California agreed with the EEOC’s reasoning in December, and the Justice Department has formally supported the position since 2014.