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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lilith Rosabella (talk | contribs) at 03:59, 12 May 2023 (Adding the personal life of Gerald Bostock). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Gerald Bostock (1964) was one of the petitioners in Bostock v. Clayton County. After working for the county for ten years, Gerald Bostock joined a gay baseball team and was fired soon after for “conduct ‘unbecoming a county employee.”[1] Bostock sued the county for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects against discrimination on the basis of sex in employment.[2] The district court and later the 11th Circuit Court held that the Civil Rights Act did not defend against discrimination in employment. Bostock appealed to the Supreme Court, along with Zarda and Stephens.[3] The Court determined in Bostock v. Clayton County that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity was prohibited by Title VII.

Involvement with Bostock v. Clayton County

From 2003 to 2013, Bostock worked as a child welfare services coordinator for Clayton County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, training and assigning volunteers to represent children neglected or abused in court proceedings.[4] In early 2013, Gerald Bostock joined a gay softball team, and he received “disparaging comments”[5] about his participation in the Hotlanta Softball League and his sexuality.[6] A month later, Bostock arrived at work only for his key card to no longer function.[7] Bostock’s employers told him that he was fired for “conduct ‘unbecoming’ a county employee.”[8]

Gerald Bostock filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and in 2016, he brought a lawsuit against the county as violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[9] The district court dismissed his suit due to it relying on Title VII protecting against discrimination based upon sexual orientation, which opposed the recent decision of Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, 850 F.3d 1248 (11th Circuit 2017).[10] Gerald Bostock appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in July of 2018,[11] only to receive an affirmation of the lower court’s decision and notes on procedural deficiencies in Bostock’s appeal.[12]

When Gerald Bostock appealed to the Supreme Court as a petitioner, his case was combined with that of Donald Zarda (Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda)[13] and Aimee Stephens (R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)[14] under his name. In an interview with NBC News, Bostock expressed that he walked away “even more optimistic” after speaking before the Court.[15] He also predicted the decision would be written by Neil Gorsuch in a “6-3 verdict.”[16]

On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court determined that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act “protects gay, lesbian, and transgender people from discrimination in employment.”[17] Brain Sutherland, Bostock’s attorney, argued that Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins at Thirty, a case defending a woman denied partnership for her femininity,[18] protected individuals from discrimination based upon sex stereotyping,[19] which applied “broadly” to include “same-sex sexual harassment.”[20] When the Supreme Court published the decision, Gerald Bostock was on a work call and had to quickly get off the call. The Supreme Court page had crashed, and when he finally got access to the first page, Bostock knew that they had won.[21]

Professional life

Starting in 2003, Gerald Bostock served Clayton County as a child welfare services coordinator. He managed the training of volunteers to defend “at-risk children in the Clayton County juvenile system.”[22] Attorney Sutherland noted that Bostock was an “incredibly effective employee,” winning “awards” for his work.[23] Bostock would later note that they served “100 percent of children in care.”[24] In 2013, Gerald Bostock began recruiting members of the Hotlanta Softball League to become Court Appointed Special Advocates.[25] In May of 2013, at least one coworker made negative comments about his sexuality and participation in a gay softball team during a meeting with an advisory board.[26] One day in June of 2013, he arrived to work and could not enter due to his key swipe being disabled.[27] After his leave, the CASA program was “no longer supplying a CASA volunteer for every child in the courts,” according to Gerald Bostock.[28]

Gerald Bostock attempted to find another job in child welfare services, but he could not get another interview in the field.[29] Bostock later became a mental health counselor at Georgia Regional Hospital.[30] In an interview with the Daily Beast, he said, “I’m still making a difference but with adults, not children. I’ve always been a person who wanted to give back and make a positive difference in the community around me, but my passion was working with children, and that was the job I was good at. The program I ran had great success, and had national and statewide accolades—and having that passion taken away from you for doing nothing wrong is just hurtful.”[31]

Personal life

When Bostock was fired from Clayton County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates program, he lost his medical insurace while he was in the process of recovering from prostate cancer,[32] and the “stress” from the Court case “alone prolonged” his “recovery.”[33] Gerald Bostock commented, “without the support of my partner as well as my family and circle of friends, I don’t know if I would have had the strength and ability to do what I’ve done.”[34]

  1. ^ Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf.
  2. ^ Department of Labor, Legal Highlight: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, H.R. Rep. (). https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964#:~:text=In%201964%2C%20Congress%20passed%20Public,hiring%2C%20promoting%2C%20and%20firing.
  3. ^ Samantha Schmidt, "Fired after joining a gay softball league, Gerald Bostock wins landmark Supreme Court case," Washington Post, 1, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/06/15/fired-after-joining-gay-softball-league-gerald-bostock-wins-landmark-supreme-court-case/.
  4. ^ Tim Teeman, "Gerald Bostock Was Fired. He Wants His Supreme Court Case to Help Change LGBTQ Rights in America.," Daily Beast, 1, https://www.thedailybeast.com/gerald-bostock-was-fired-he-wants-his-supreme-court-case-to-help-change-lgbtq-rights-in-america.
  5. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  6. ^ Samantha Schmidt, "Fired after joining a gay softball league, Gerald Bostock wins landmark Supreme Court case," Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/06/15/fired-after-joining-gay-softball-league-gerald-bostock-wins-landmark-supreme-court-case/.
  7. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  8. ^ Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf.
  9. ^ "Bostock v. Clayton County," Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019/17-1618.
  10. ^ "Bostock v. Clayton," Oyez.
  11. ^ Kate Brumback, "Court: Law doesn't bar sex-orientation discrimination on job," AP News, 1, https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-us-news-us-supreme-court-courts-workplace-discrimination-1a09599156e54765bd962375916ab569.
  12. ^ "Bostock v. Clayton," Oyez.
  13. ^ Mark Walsh, "Contentious Cases: The Court Will Take on Big Issues That Have Been Percolating for a While," ABA Journal, September/October 2019, 1, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A598928703/EAIM?u=athe67392&sid=bookmark-EAIM&xid=ec8292f7.
  14. ^ "R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens," ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/cases/rg-gr-harris-funeral-homes-v-eeoc-aimee-stephens.
  15. ^ "Man who won gay rights case at Supreme Court agrees to settlement," NBC News, 1, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/man-won-gay-rights-case-scotus-agrees-settlement-rcna55959.
  16. ^ "Man who won gay rights," 1.
  17. ^ "Court: LGBT workers protected by law," Associated Press, 1, https://basic.newspapers.com/image/779799798/?terms=%22Gerald%20Bostock%22&match=1.
  18. ^ Sasha Buchert, "Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins at Thirty," Alliance for Justice, last modified May 1, 2019, accessed May 11, 2023, https://www.afj.org/article/price-waterhouse-v-hopkins-at-thirty/.
  19. ^ Tim Teeman, "Gerald Bostock Was Fired. He Wants His Supreme Court Case to Help Change LGBTQ Rights in America.," Daily Beast, 1, https://www.thedailybeast.com/gerald-bostock-was-fired-he-wants-his-supreme-court-case-to-help-change-lgbtq-rights-in-america.
  20. ^ Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
  21. ^ "Man who won gay rights," 1.
  22. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  23. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  24. ^ Michael Schulman, "The Three People at the Center of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision," The New Yorker, 1, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-three-people-at-the-center-of-the-landmark-supreme-court-decision.
  25. ^ Schulman, "The Three," 1.
  26. ^ Schmidt, "Fired after," 1.
  27. ^ Schulman, "The Three," 1.
  28. ^ Schulman, "The Three," 1.
  29. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  30. ^ Schulman, "The Three," 1.
  31. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  32. ^ Schulman, "The Three," 1.
  33. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
  34. ^ Teeman, "Gerald Bostock," 1.
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