Bostock v. Clayton County

Title VII is violated when an employee is fired on the basis of being gay, lesbian, or transgender.

This case arose from several employees, of various different employers, who were all fired by reason of sexual orientation. The Sixth Circuit and the Second Circuit held that the employees were unlawfully fired under Title VII because the employers discriminated “on the basis of sex.” However, the Eleventh Circuit disagreed because sexual orientation is not covered under the term “sex.” The United States Supreme Court held that when Petitioner was fired on the basis of his sexual orientation, he was therefore fired on the basis of his sex, thus constituting Title VII protection. The Court reasoned that when someone is fired merely for being gay, lesbian, or transgender, their sex is taken into account because the employer relied on the sex of the employee and the sex that employee is attracted to in making their decision to fire said employee. Additionally, the Court reasoned that even if the employee’s sex isn’t the sole reason they were fired, there is still a Title VII violation when, but for the employee’s sex, they would not have been treated the way they were. Lastly, the court reasoned that it didn’t matter if the employer treated men and women the same when firing each sex for being gay or lesbian, there was still discrimination based on the sex of the individual employee in both instances. The judgments of the Second and Sixth Circuits are AFFIRMED. The judgment of the Eleventh Circuit is REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings.