Firing someone for being gay
Can you be fired for being gay? Answer depends largely on where you live
Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence, garnered national attention this month after she returned to work at an evangelical Christian college that bars LGBTQ employees and students. While the Virginia school’s policies sparked criticism, they also highlighted the complicated patchwork of employment protections for woman-loving woman, gay, bisexual and transgender workers across the country.
“If you are an LGBT employee in the U.S., you confront a very complicated legal landscape when it comes to whether or not you can be discriminated against by a prospective employer,” Ineke Mushovic, executive director of Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, told NBC News.
This “complicated legal landscape” involves conflicting court rulings, differing interpretations of civil rights laws by federal agencies, a patchwork of state laws and carve outs for religiously affiliated organizations.
THE COURTS
For starters, there is no federal law that expressly prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, LGBTQ workers across the U.S. have called upon Title VI
It's legal to be fired for being gay.
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
The Employment Non-Discrimination Perform prohibits covered entities (employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, or joint labor-management committees) from engaging in employmentdiscrimination on the basis of an individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Currently, there are 59 co-sponsors of ENDA, including Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and the rest of the Democratic Caucus. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), are the only Republican co-sponsors of the bill, although, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted to the bill out of committee.
Senator Marco Rubiois currently not a co-sponsor of ENDA. He has stated that he's "not for any special protections based on orientation" when asked if he supports ENDA.
Last week, spokeswoman Brooke Sammon responded to the Tampa Bay Times' questions regarding Rubio's stance on ENDA. "He believes people’s qualifications, performance and truthfulness are the most crucial qualities by which they should be judged in the wor
U.S. Supreme Court: Title VII Protects Gay and Trans Employees
On June 15, 2020, by a vote of 6-3, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer who fires an individual merely for organism gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Prior to the court’s historic decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, fewer than half the states had statutes banning discrimination against Queer employees. Through the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking interpretation of Title VII, those protections now stretch across the nation.
Background
Title VII prohibits workplace discrimination “because of … sex.” For decades, courts held that “because of … sex” did not include sexual orientation or gender identity. In 1989, the Supreme Court held that discrimination based on sex-based stereotypes is prohibited by Title VII. Over the years, courts increasingly struggled to distinguish between claims based on sex-based stereotypes (which were actionable) and claims based on gender identity or sexual orientation (which were generally viewed as unactionable). Then in 2015, the Supreme Court recognized that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of same-sex couples to m
LGBTQ People’s Experiences of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Executive Summary
Over 8 million workers in the U.S. distinguish as LGBT.Employment discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender persona have been widely documented.Recent research has found that LGBTQ people continue to face mistreatment in the workplace,even after the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2020 that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Experiences of workplace discrimination and harassment negatively impact employees’ health and well-being, as well as their job dedication, satisfaction, and productivity. These primary effects can, in shift , result in higher costs and other negative outcomes for employers.
This report examines experiences of discrimination and harassment against LGBTQ employees using a survey of 1,902 LGBTQ adults in the workforce conducted in the summer of 2023. It is based on a similar study published by the Williams Institute in 2021.This inform examines the lifetime, five-year, and past-year workplace experiences of LGBTQ employees. It compares the experiences of transgender a
LGBTQ Rights
Know your rights Back to Perceive Your Rights main page
The legal landscape for LGBTQ people is constantly evolving. If you think you have been discriminated against and would like our assistance, please visit our Report LGBTQ and HIV Discrimination Page and we can help you figure out whether you are protected under federal or state laws.
Can an employer discriminate against me because of my sexual orientation or gender identity?
Your rights
Employers with 15 or more employees are prohibited by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Execute from discriminating on the basis of sex, and the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2020 (Bostock v. Clayton County), that firing someone on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is sex discrimination. In addition, many states and cities have laws banning this kind of discrimination, and some of those laws apply to smaller employers.
If you believe that your rights have been violated
If you think that you have experienced discrimination at work, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or with your state human rights enforcement agency where applicable. Try