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53 Conn. L. Rev. Online 1 (2020-2021)

handle is hein.journals/conntemp53 and id is 1 raw text is: CONNECTICUT
LAW REVIEW

VOLUME 53(1)               DECEMBER 2020               ONLINE EDITION
Article
Feminist Perspectives on Bostock v. Clayton County
ANN C. MCGINLEY, NICOLE BUONOCORE PORTER,
DANIELLE WEATHERBY, RYAN H. NELSON, PAMELA WILKINS, AND
CATHERINE JEAN ARCHIBALD
This jointly-authored essay is a conversation about the Supreme Court's recent
and groundbreaking decision (Bostock v. Clayton County) that held that
discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is discrimination
based on sex, and therefore prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
While many scholars are writing about this case, we are doing something unique.
We are analyzing this decision from feminist perspectives. We are the editors and
four of the authors of a book recently published by Cambridge University
Press: Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Employment Discrimination Opinions. This
book contains fifteen Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals employment
discrimination cases that have been rewritten using feminist perspectives, along
with commentaries for each of the rewritten opinions. Two of those rewritten
opinions are Courts of Appeals cases involving gender identity (Etsitty v. Utah
Transit Authority) and sexual orientation (Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College).
Because the book was already in production when Bostock was decided, we were
unable to incorporate this momentous case into our book.
And yet, given our experiences rewriting and editing opinions from feminist
perspectives, we have something to say about Bostock and its significance for
LGBTQ+ employment cases and employment discrimination law more broadly.
Accordingly, we wrote this essay, which has three goals: first, to introduce our
book; second, to analyze the Bostock case and its effect on employment
discrimination law as it relates to sexual orientation and gender identity; and third,
to discuss more broadly the effect of Bostock on employment discrimination
jurisprudence through a feminist lens. Throughout the essay, we are attempting to
answer the question of whether Bostock is a feminist opinion. Our answers are
varied and even uncertain; but ultimately, we conclude that even though we, as
feminists, might have written it differently, the LGBTQ+ community deserves to
celebrate this momentous victory.

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