In 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took on the case of Aimee (formerly Anthony) Stephens, who R.G. &. G.R. Harris Funeral Homes fired after Stephens announced that he would be transitioning to she. The funeral home had a dress code that required women to wear “skirt-suits”, and Stephens announced that after she returned from vacation, she would be switching to female clothes.
Stephens’ case was thrown out of court in 2016. The court ruled that Stephens didn’t a claim because “like sexual orientation, transgender or transsexual status is currently not a protected class under Title VII.” The court also relied on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), because the funeral home owner, Thomas Rost, was entitled to his religious liberty, and Stephen’s transition violated that.
The Washington Post quoted EEOC spokesman Justine Lisser as saying “We are disappointed with the decision and are reviewing the next steps.” Those next steps involved appealing the decision.
To keep reading, click here: Is the EEOC Backing Out of an LGBTQ Lawsuit?
If EEOC backs off on enforcing LGBTQ rights, they will end up having to re-write some of their own regulations and flying in the face of some court decisions that have already been made reflecting their current stance that discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity equals discrimination based on sex.
Yeah, that’s why it’s so strange. And Trump has been very pro-LGBTQ in his previous life, so I wasn’t expecting this.
I said the exact same thing about some halting of totally run of the mill work involving grants. Expect chaos I guess.
Citizen Trump may have been nominally pro-LGBT (though he never struck me as committed to those views), but Candidate Trump was certainly willing to appeal to the social conservatives in the party, and Nominee Trump picked one of the most anti-LGBT governors in the country as his running-mate. Given that, and how “damn the torpedoes (and the details and implementation), full speed ahead!” his exec. orders have been, I don’t think anyone should be surprised on either count.
Bethra–yeah, that’s true. Maybe a compromise with Pence?
Certainly makes for interesting employment stuff!