In March 2017, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Georgia Regional Hospital and stated that only the Supreme Court could determine whether Title VII protections extended to gay workers.
Evans’ attorney, Gregory Nevins of Lambda Legal, an LGBT legal advocacy group, filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari on September 7, 2017. The Supreme Court declined it on December 11, 2017. Nevins stated, “The Supreme Court is delaying the inevitable and leaving a split in the circuits that will cause confusion across the country. But this was not a ‘no,’ but a ‘not yet.’”
The Split Between the Circuit Courts
While the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Georgia Regional Hospital, a Chicago-based federal appeals court found that Title VII does forbid discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation. The EEOC, which enforces Title VII, has stated since 2012 that companies who discriminate based on sexual orientation are in violation of the law.
