In the recent past, the world has seen pragmatic change making societies across the globe a safer place for LGBT+ individuals. However, it wasn’t until April 5, 2017, when the full panel of 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that sexual discrimination is included in the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The title was initially created to implement the outlawing of workplace discrimination regarding women in the workplace, meaning “an employer can’t deny partnership to a female employee because she’s too ‘aggressive’ and isn’t feminine enough.” However, change is being made to ensure that right formally and permanently extends to LGBT+ employees.
Kimberly Hively filed a lawsuit against Ivy Tech Community College in 2014 because the college denied her full-time employment due to her sexual orientation. Although it being a blatant act of unjustifiable discrimination, it is still technically legal in several states to fire someone or deny someone employment based entirely on their sexual or gender identity. Only twenty of the fifty states in the USA ban workplace discrimination regarding sexual orientation, and the Supreme Court has never actively spoken out on the issue. That possibility was expected to remain improbable, until recently.
On April 5, 2017, Hively received notice that the federal appeals court handling her case officially agreed that protection from sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination rightfully does belong in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The ruling gives hope for the lawsuit to move up the chain of judicial review and eventually find itself in the hands of the Supreme Court.
A 2013 Pew Research Center study found that one in five LGBT+ Americans have felt mistreated by an employer due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
We may have seen remarkable strides toward full acceptance of LGBT+ individuals, but the fight is far from over. Until we can all live in an environment where people are granted career opportunities rightfully based on their character and abilities, rather than who they are attracted to, the overwhelming stigma on LGBT+ people in the workplace will continue to plague society. It is time to treat people as people, rather than as taboo obscenities or offensive stereotypes. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will soon acknowledge that sexual attraction or gender expression has absolutely no correlation with work performance.
