Why This Gay Man Took His Discrimination Case to the Supreme Court

Gerald Bostock, whose case was heard by the court in October, talks about losing his "dream job" after he joined a gay softball league.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

November 29 2019 12:33 AM EST

October 31 2024 5:50 AM EST

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Gerald Bostock, a gay man whose discrimination case was heard by the Supreme Court in October, shares his story in a new video released by the Human Rights Campaign.

Bostock was a child welfare services coordinator in Clayton County, Ga., advocating for abused and neglected children. "It was my dream job," he recalls in the video. But in 2013, after a decade on the job, he was fired -- not long after he'd joined a gay softball league. He hadn't been closeted at work, but joining the league apparently raised his gay profile a bit too much for his supervisors. "I knew immediately it was because of my sexual orientation," he says.

"It was the worst day of my life," he remembers, other than the day he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was still recovering when he lost his job and his health insurance.

The Supreme Court heard Bostock's case along with those of funeral director Aimee Stephens, who was fired after coming out as transgender, and the late skydiving instructor Donald Zarda, who was fired after telling a client he was gay. The question before the court is whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in banning sex discrimination, bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Lower courts have delivered conflicting opinions on the issue.