A Georgia county has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a man whose case was one of three that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.
The Clayton County Board of Commissioners this week approved an $825,000 settlement for Gerald Lynn Bostock, his lawyer Ed Buckley said Friday. Bostock had sued the county, which sits just south of Atlanta, saying he was fired in 2013 because he is gay.
“I’m filled with joy and words can hardly express how happy I am that this is now over,” Bostock said during a news conference Friday. “As I said from the beginning, no one should go to work fearful of losing their job because of who they are, who they love or how they identify.”
His case was one of three decided by the Supreme Court in June 2020 in a ruling that said a key part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII bars job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Bostock had appealed to the high court after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his claims. The federal appeals court cited binding precedent that said the 1964 civil rights law doesn’t protect against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
