U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Metro Atlanta LGBT Discrimination Case

ATLANTA, GA — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear an LGBT discrimination lawsuit filed by a metro Atlanta man who claims he was denied a job as a child welfare worker because he is gay. The case, Bostock v. Clayton County, was filed by Gerald Lynn Bostock, who had been an employee of Clayton County since 2003. In 2013, Bostock joined a gay softball league, and later that year, was fired after being accused of misspending money.

Bostock then sued Clayton County, arguing he was fired because he was gay. Bostock said Clayton County used his sexual orientation as a pretense for an unsubstantiated audit. A senior district judge in Atlanta dismissed his case. Bostock then took an appeal before the 11th circuit, which also dismissed the case. However, in a dissenting opinion, Judge Robin Rosenbaum, an appointee of then-President Barack Obama, dissented. "I continue to firmly believe that Title VII prohibits discrimination against gay and lesbian individuals because they fail to conform to their employers’ views when it comes to whom they should love."

On Monday, the court agreed to hear Bostock's case this fall.

The court, according to HR Dive, also agreed to hear two similar cases: Altitude Express, Inc., et al. v. Zarda and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC.