WASHINGTON — Existing civil rights laws protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
It is a "common-sense reality," the court held, "that it is actually impossible to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation without discriminating on the basis of sex."
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the sex discrimination ban in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes a bar on discriminating against gay, lesbian, or bisexual people.
"[A] person who alleges that she experienced employment discrimination on the basis of her sexual orientation has put forth a case of sex discrimination for Title VII purposes," Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote for the full court.
The Seventh Circuit covers federal lawsuits out of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Although the issue in the case brought by Kimberly Hively was regarding sexual orientation-based discrimination, Wood noted the logic has been applied to gender identity-based discrimination case as well.
"Many other courts have found that gender- identity claims are cognizable under Title VII," she wrote.
Only three of the court's 11 judges dissented from the ruling: Judge Diane Sykes, joined by Judges William Bauer and Michael Kanne.
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