Supreme Court refuses to hear lesbian’s security guard ‘s employment discrimination lawsuit
Washington DC Dec 13 2017
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a lesbian woman who claims she was harassed at work and forced to leave her job because she is a lesbian who does not conform to traditionally female stereotypes.
Jameka Evans, a security guard at Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the hospital violated her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation and her nonconformity with gender norms of appearance and demeanor.
A district court dismissed the case, finding that Evans had no right to sue because Title VII — which prohibits discrimination based on sex — does not apply to people discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.
Lambda Legal, which is representing Evans, filed an appeal, arguing that sexual orientation discrimination constitutes a form of sex-based discrimination. A three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit.
Evans’ lawyers appealed again, asking for a full hearing by the 11th Circuit, which rejected the request, thereby forcing Evans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“By declining to hear this case, the Supreme Court is delaying the inevitable and leaving a split in the circuits that will cause confusion across the country,” Greg Nevins, the director of the Employment Fairness Project at Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “But this was not a ‘no’ but a ‘not yet,’ and rest assured that Lambda Legal will continue the fight, circuit by circuit as necessary, to establish that the Civil Rights Act prohibits sexual orientation discrimination.”
“The vast majority of Americans believe that LGBT people should be treated equally in the workplace,” Nevins added. “The public is on the right side of history; it’s unfortunate that the Supreme Court has refused to join us today, but we will continue to invite them to do the right thing and end this hurtful balkanization of the right of LGBT people to be out at work.”
