{"id":555,"date":"2017-06-07T15:10:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T15:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/?p=555"},"modified":"2020-07-31T13:24:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:24:30","slug":"seventh-circuits-en-banc-decision-in-hively-opens-door-for-transgender-protection-under-title-vii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2017\/06\/07\/seventh-circuits-en-banc-decision-in-hively-opens-door-for-transgender-protection-under-title-vii\/","title":{"rendered":"Seventh Circuit\u2019s En Banc Decision in Hively Opens Door For Transgender Protection Under Title VII"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we reported a few months ago in a previous article, \u201c7th<\/sup> Circuit Rehears Hively Case<\/a><\/u>\u201d, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear the case of Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College<\/a><\/em>, on the issue of whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.\u00a0 In a landmark ruling on April 4, the Seventh Circuit became the first U.S. Court of Appeals to buck the trend of prior precedent and hold that Title VII\u2019s prohibition on employment discrimination based on \u201csex\u201d encompassed discrimination based on sexual orientation.\u00a0 The case will inevitably reach the Supreme Court next term.\u00a0 In the meantime, it is worth considering the impact this case may have on the extension of Title VII protection to gender identity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A quick refresher on the facts of the case: Plaintiff Kimberly Hively states a claim under Title VII alleging that she suffered discrimination when her former employer, Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, fired her because she is gay.\u00a0 On initial appeal of the case, a panel of the Seventh Circuit reluctantly found against Ms. Hively, as discussed in another previous article<\/a>, noting that drawing an arbitrary line between discrimination based on \u201csex\u201d and sexual orientation was \u201cillogical,\u201d but finding that it was nevertheless bound by prior precedent on the issue.\u00a0 Upon rehearing en banc, however, the Seventh Circuit found sufficient grounds among the expanding conception of \u201csex\u201d under the law to extend protection to sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Seventh Circuit Broadens Interpretation of \u201cSex\u201d Discrimination Under Title VII<\/u><\/p>\n

The majority opinion identifies at least three independent grounds for the expansion of Title VII to protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Even under a narrow conception of \u201csex,\u201d discrimination based on sexual orientation is inherently based on sex: \u201cHively alleges that if she had been a man married to a woman (or living with a woman, or dating a woman) and everything else had stayed the same, Ivy Tech would not have refused to promote her and would not have fired her. . . . This describes paradigmatic sex discrimination.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Under existing case law, Title VII protects employees from \u201csex\u201d discrimination for not adhering to societal gender norms: \u201cHively represents the ultimate case of failure to conform to the female stereotype (at least as understood in a place such as modern America, which views heterosexuality as the norm and other forms of sexuality as exceptional): she is not heterosexual.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cSex\u201d discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of intimate association with an individual of the protected classification, a principle illustrated (in the race context) by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia<\/em>, which invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.\u00a0 The majority reasoned that \u201cto the extent that [Title VII] prohibits discrimination on the basis of the race of someone with whom the plaintiff associates, it also prohibits discrimination on the basis of the national origin, or the color, or the religion, or (as relevant here) the sex of the associate.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Overall, the majority memorably concludes that \u201c[i]t would require considerable calisthenics to remove the \u2018sex\u2019 from \u2018sexual orientation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

    Further Protection From Gender Identity Discrimination Under Title VII?<\/u><\/p>\n

    The majority explicitly limited its decision to a holding that discrimination based on sexual orientation in the employment context is sufficient to state a claim of \u201csex\u201d discrimination under Title VII, but nevertheless anticipates that its reasoning could be applied more broadly to protect from discrimination based on gender identity.\u00a0 Indeed, the Court\u2019s reasoning as set forth above appears carefully crafted to apply equally in the context of a gender identity discrimination case.<\/p>\n

    In discussing the gender non-conformity line of cases, the majority recognizes that \u201c[t]he discriminatory behavior does not exist without taking the victim\u2019s biological sex (either as observed at birth or as modified, in the case of transsexuals) into account.\u00a0 Any discomfort, disapproval, or job decision based on the fact that the complainant \u2013 woman or man \u2013 dresses differently, speaks differently, or dates or marries a same-sex partner, is a reaction purely and simply based on sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

    There is no doubt that this language was meant to set the stage for a future gender identity discrimination claim.\u00a0If the Supreme Court (or other Circuit Courts) adopt the Seventh Circuit\u2019s approach to incorporation of sexual orientation discrimination as a form of \u201csex\u201d discrimination, it is hard to imagine how this reasoning would not be extended to also protect from gender identity discrimination.\u00a0 Keep an eye out for the Supreme Court to pick this case up next term, and for other Circuit Courts to revisit Title VII in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As we reported a few months ago in a previous article, “7th Circuit Rehears Hively Case”, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear the case of Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, on the issue of whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[14,15],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discrimination","category-employment","tag-sexual-orientation","tag-title-vii"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeventh Circuit\u2019s En Banc Decision in Hively Opens Door For Transgender Protection Under Title VII - The Case for Inclusion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2017\/06\/07\/seventh-circuits-en-banc-decision-in-hively-opens-door-for-transgender-protection-under-title-vii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seventh Circuit\u2019s En Banc Decision in Hively Opens Door For Transgender Protection Under Title VII - The Case for Inclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we reported a few months ago in a previous article, “7th Circuit Rehears Hively Case”, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear the case of Hively v. 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