Horton v. Midwest Geriatric Management (U.S.C.A. 8th Circuit, 2018)

This case involves an employer that withdrew an offer of employment when its owners learned that the applicant is a gay man and that his religious beliefs about sexual orientation and marriage of same-sex couples didn’t conform to the employers’. In response, he filed a lawsuit for claims of sex and religious discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Horton claims that the withdrawal of the offer based on his sexual orientation constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII, and the same decision based on his religious beliefs constitutes religious discrimination. At a preliminary stage in the case, the lower court dismissed both of these claims. ADL filed an amicus brief joined by religious and civil rights groups focusing on Horton’s religious discrimination claim. ADL’s brief urges the Court to follow other U.S. Courts of Appeals rulings that have found that Title VII’s prohibition on religious discrimination includes adverse employment actions which are based on the nonconformity of an employee’s/applicant’s religious beliefs with the employer’s. The brief also urges the Court to follow rulings from other U.S. Courts of Appeals rulings, which have found that Title VII covers sexual orientation discrimination as a form of sex stereotyping.