Sexual Orientation Not Protected Under Title VII, Appeals Court Finds

An appeals court this week ruled that employers may legally fire workers based on sexual orientation. A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously not to extend Title VII employment protections to cover sexual orientation, in contrast to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s stance that firing someone because they are gay or a lesbian is discriminatory. In upholding its interpretation of federal law, the appeals court acknowledged that it does not make much sense, considering that gay marriage is now a constitutional right. “[A]lthough federal law now guarantees anyone the right to marry another person of the same gender, Title VII, to the extent it does not reach sexual orientation discrimination, also allows employers to fire that employee for doing so,” Judge Ilana Rovner wrote. Rovner also noted: “Title VII protects gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, but frequently only to the extent that those plaintiffs meet society’s stereotypical norms about how gay men or lesbian women look or act – i.e. that gay men tend to behave in effeminate ways and lesbian women have masculine mannerisms. By contrast, lesbian, gay, or bisexual people who otherwise conform to gender stereotyped norms in dress and mannerisms mostly lose their claims for sex discrimination under Title VII, although why this should be true is not entirely clear.”