California Judge includes Sexual Orientation in US Discrimination Law

A California federal judge has included sexual orientation in the landmark law Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools and colleges.

According to the Los Angeles Times, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson said in his 22-page ruling that discrimination on sexual orientation is still discrimination. This ruling lets two former players of the Pepperdine University women's basketball team to continue their lawsuit, which claims that they were discriminated and harassed because they were dating. Haley Videckis and Layana White said their coach removed them from the team since they have lesbian relationship, and that it leads to the teams losses.

The women's lawsuit was dismissed as Pepperdine argued that their case does not meet the requirements of Title IX. However, Pregerson disagreed with this notion, saying the women can proceed with their lawsuit since the maltreatment targets both individual's sex in their relationship.

"Plaintiffs allege that they were told that 'lesbianism' would not be tolerated on the team," said Pregerson. "If plaintiffs had been males dating females, instead of females dating females, they would not have been subjected to the alleged different treatment."

He concluded that the women have a "straightforward claim of sex discrimination."

Star Tribune reported that Pepperdine's lawyers said that the negative comments on the same-sex relationship between the women were only made to promote team unity. However, Pregerson said sexual orientation discrimination can lead to discrimination on the basis of sex citing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decision.

Buzz Feed News wrote that there have been court fights, administration moves, and agency rulings in the past years that seeks to expand what "sex" means in the Title IX law. These moves want to include gender identity for transgenders and sexual orientation for LGBT. 

The frontrunner of this issue is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Since early 2012, EEOC has already established that sex discrimination in Title VII includes anti-transgender discrimination and other gender identity discrimination. After establishing that point, the agency ruled July this year that the law covers anti-gay discrimination and discrimination based on sexual orientation. 

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California Judge, sexual orientation discrimination law, California federal judge, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

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