Following a bench trial, D.C. District Court Judge James Robertson has ruled that the Library of Congress is liable for sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for withdrawing a job offer after learning the candidate was planning to transition to life as a woman. The decision, Schroer v. Billington, D.D.C., No. 05-1090 (9/19/08), appears to be a significant departure from federal precedent, and is being hailed as a landmark decision in the area of transgender rights.

Most federal courts to have considered the issue have ruled Title VII does not ban bias based on gender identity. Indeed, the court acknowledged the Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth circuits have held in similar cases that Title VII's ban on sex discrimination does not extend to transsexuals because "Congress's 'manifest purpose' in enacting the statute was only 'to ensure that men and woman are treated equally.'"

Still, Robertson held that Schroer proved a Title VII claim based both on a "sex stereotyping" theory of liability and the statute's plain language:

For Diane Schroer to prevail on the facts of her case, however, it is not necessary to draw sweeping conclusions about the reach of Title VII. … Even if the decisions that define the word “sex” in Title VII as referring only to anatomical or chromosomal sex are still good law -- after that approach “has been eviscerated” by Price Waterhouse -- the Library's refusal to hire Schroer after being advised that she planned to change her anatomical sex by undergoing sex reassignment surgery was literally discrimination “because of ... sex.”

In our previous coverage of this case, we noted:

The ultimate decision may, however, be rendered moot by the legislative progress of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and whether or not it is passed with transgender provisions included. Regular readers of this blog may recall that Plaintiff Diane Schroer testified before a House Subcommittee meeting on June 26, 2008, on behalf of an expanded ENDA. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3685 -- the Employment Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA) without transgender protectionsby a vote of 235-184 in November 2007.

Additional coverage of this week’s decision:

• "Victory for Transgender Woman" -- New York Times
• "Landmark federal decision on transgender employment discrimination " -- HRM Today
• "Transgender woman wins discrimination case against Library of Congress" -- HRC Back Story
• "Federal Court Adopts Religious Conversion Analogy in Transgender Discrimination Case" -- Prof. Leonard Link's blog
• "Court rules that Title VII prohibits gender identity discrimination" -- The Bilerico Project