Sexual orientation discrimination (also known as sexualism) is discrimination based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

and/or

sexual behaviour Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) ...

Sexual bias

Sexual orientation discrimination often comes up in the context of employment actions. It usually refers to a predisposition towards

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...

people, which is biased against

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, and

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

people, among others. This is specifically referred to as

heterosexism Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of female–male sexuality and relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexua ...

. A related term is ''sexual prejudice'', a negative attitude towards someone because of their sexual orientation. This bias is also the same as

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

, as it is discrimination towards or against certain sexual orientations. An earlier definition of this term is: Sexual orientation discrimination is a belief or argument that one sexual orientation or sexual behaviour is inherently superior to some or all others. Usually it comes in the form of heterosexuality being considered the only

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...

, or moral mode of sexual behavior, and is also used to refer to the effects of that instinct. The word ''heterosexism'' has also been proposed to mean essentially the same thing as this form of sexual orientation discrimination. This word has been suggested as an alternative to

, in part because it uses a parallel structure to

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. The intent of the concept of heterosexism is the examination of the cultural bias against non-heterosexuals rather than individual bias, which is the focus of homophobia, as well as the adverse effects of normative heterosexuality on heterosexual identifying people.

Forms of discrimination

Employment actions

Employment actions (or ultimate employment actions), refer to hiring, firing, demotions, promotions, and compensation. Adverse employment actions, however, include termination, demotions, suspension, and changes to conditions, responsibilities and pay.

Title VII The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requir ...

of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex. In Bostock v. Clayton County 590

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

___ 2020, the Supreme Court found that adverse employment actions made due to an employee's sexual orientation or gender identity violates

Service provision

Sexual orientation discrimination also occurs at the time of service provision from a business or government agency to an individual or group. Such services may include dining at a restaurant, visiting a partner at the hospital, receiving healthcare, or acquiring a marriage license.

Sexuality or sexual nature

The term pansexualism, seen especially in the field of early-20th-century

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

, was based on the usage of the term "sexualism" to refer to humanity's sexual nature. The terms "homosexualism" and "bisexualism" were also based on this usage, and were commonly used before the general adoption of the terms

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

and

bisexuality Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

Key court decisions

Latta v. Otter

Latta v. Otter ''Latta v. Otter'' is a case initiated in 2013 in U.S. federal court by plaintiffs seeking to prevent the state of Idaho from enforcing its ban on same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs won in U.S. District Court. The case was appealed to the Ninth Cir ...

, 771 F.3d 456 (9th Cir. 2014) is a court case that resulted from a federal lawsuit filed by four couples from Boise, Idaho, where

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

remained illegal until the couples' victory in 2014. Prior to ''Latta v. Otter'', only 16

U.S. states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

had legalized same-sex marriage, and Idaho refused to recognize same-sex marriages performed in such states. On September 8, 2014, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Idaho's ban on same-sex marriage was a violation of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

's guarantee of equal protection.

Obergefell v. Hodges

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...

, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) is the landmark

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

case that resulted in federal legalization of

in the United States. In July 2013, James Obergefell and John Arthur James, filed a lawsuit in the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

because of its refusal to recognize same-sex marriages on

death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, as ...

s. In September 2013, the lawsuit was amended to include a second gay couple and a

funeral director A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...

who feared prosecution for falsifying death certificates if he were to note same-sex spouses on gay clients' documents.

Hively v. Ivy Tech Community, College of Indiana

Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, __ F.3d __, 2017 WL 1230393 (7th Cir. Apr. 4, 2017) ruled in an 8-3 decision by the

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: * Central District of Illinois * Northern District of ...

that

sex discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

includes

, and therefore violates federal

civil rights law Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. Part-time professor and open

Kimberley Hively applied multiple times for full-time employment, but she was not approved, and her contract was not renewed. She claimed that this was due to her sexuality, and filed with the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

. The Seventh Circuit Court ruled in her favor.

Bostock v. Clayton County

Prior to the Bostock v. Clayton County case, the language of

in the

left the phrase 'on the basis of sex' up for interpretation. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recognized members of the LGBTQ community as a protected class under

since 2013, but even in 2020, only 21 states had extended employment discrimination protections to members the LGBTQ community. The ''Bostock'' ruling found that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity would, in fact, be considered discrimination on the basis of sex.

Notes

References

*White, Chris, 'Nineteenth-century Writings on Homosexuality: a sourcebook' - *Wolman, Benjamin B., 'International Encyclopedia of Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychoanalysis & Neurology' (1977) *Fish, J. Heterosexism in Health & Social Care. Basingstoke: Palgrave. (2006) *Jackson, S. (2006) Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality: the complexity (and limits) of heteronormativity. Feminist Theory, 7 ( 1). pp. 105–121. ISSN 1464-7001 *Michael Rusie, The Meaning of Adverse Employment Actions in the Context of Title VII Retaliation Claims, 9 WASH. U. J. L. & POL’Y 379 (2002), https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol9/iss1/11 *Bachman, Eric. “What Counts as an ‘Adverse Employment Action’ in Discrimination and Retaliation Cases?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericbachman/2021/11/15/what-counts-as-an-adverse-employment-action-in-discrimination-and-retaliation-cases/. * Wolf, Richard (June 15, 2020). "Supreme Court grants federal job protections to gay, lesbian, transgender workers". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020. {{Discrimination * LGBT and society LGBT studies articles needing attention