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Page Number: 22.0

18 

BOSTOCK v. CLAYTON COUNTY 

Opinion of the Court 

because of sex, and Title VII liability necessarily followed.

Aren’t  these  cases  different,  the  employers  ask,  given 
that an employer could refuse to hire a gay or transgender 
individual without ever learning the applicant’s sex?  Sup-
pose an employer asked homosexual or transgender appli-
cants to tick a box on its application form.  The employer
then had someone else redact any information that could be
used to discern sex.  The resulting applications would dis-
close  which  individuals  are  homosexual  or  transgender
without revealing whether they also happen to be men or 
women.  Doesn’t  that  possibility  indicate  that  the  em-
ployer’s discrimination against homosexual or transgender 
persons cannot be sex discrimination?

No, it doesn’t.  Even in this example, the individual ap-
plicant’s sex still weighs as a factor in the employer’s deci-
sion.  Change the hypothetical ever so slightly and its flaws
become apparent.  Suppose an employer’s application form
offered a single box to check if the applicant is either black 
or  Catholic.  If  the  employer  refuses  to  hire  anyone  who
checks that box, would we conclude the employer has com-
plied with Title VII, so long as it studiously avoids learning 
any particular applicant’s race or religion?  Of course not: 
By intentionally setting out a rule that makes hiring turn 
on race or religion, the employer violates the law, whatever 
he might know or not know about individual applicants.

The same holds here.  There is no way for an applicant to
decide whether to check the homosexual or transgender box 
without considering sex.  To see why, imagine an applicant 
doesn’t  know  what  the  words  homosexual  or  transgender 
mean.  Then  try  writing  out  instructions  for  who  should
check the box without using the words man, woman, or sex
(or some synonym).  It can’t be done.  Likewise, there is no 
way an employer can discriminate against those who check
the homosexual or transgender box without discriminating
in  part  because  of  an  applicant’s  sex.  By  discriminating 
against homosexuals, the employer intentionally penalizes