Interpretive dance: anti-discrimination laws.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argues sex discrimination law includes sexual orientation and gender identity - Citings - Brief article

GAY, LESBIAN, and transgender activists have been trying for decades to push Congress to expand workplace protections against discrimination to cover them and their peers. In the meantime, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has found a workaround of sorts, involving a rather novel interpretation of existing protections under Tide VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The commission is now claiming that sexual orientation and gender identity are both protected under the aegis of the word "sex."

The EEOC is arguing that federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of whether an employee is a man or a woman also prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The justification presented by the EEOC is that previous judicial precedents have covered same-sex harassment or harassment based on perceptions of a worker's "failure to...