By: Zoe Strickland Managing Editor
On April 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit made the decision that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation is in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“We conclude today that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination,” Chief Judge Wood stated in the opinion release.
This decision was brought to court in an 8-3 vote.
When making the decision, the court tried to follow the intent of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. One section of Title VII focuses on unlawful employer practices, such as, “… to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual … because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment … because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” as stated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The appeals case was kickstarted after a 2014 lawsuit by Kimberly Hively, an adjunct instructor at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, wherein the instructor claimed that her sexual orientation prevented her from being hired-on as a permanent member of staff and later let go from the adjunct position that she had held. Though the court found that discrimination based on sexual orientation is in violation of the Civil Rights Act, they didn’t make an official ruling in the case of Hively vs. Ivy Tech.
In Oregon, discrimination based on sexual orientation is already prohibited under the Oregon Equality Act of 2007: “The Oregon Equality Act forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in several critical areas,” states the Lambda Legal website. These critical areas include discrimination in employment, public accommodation, housing and financial transactions, jury service, state institutions, foster parenting and public school education.
If you feel that you’ve been discriminated against in either of the above listed settings because of sexual orientation or gender identity, you can find out more about filing a complaint with the Bureau of Labour and Industries on oregon.gov.
Contact the author at journalmanaging@wou.edu
