Bostock’s Binary Ramifications on Titles VII and IX: Enabling Discrepancies in Discrimination Proceedings

Abstract

In Bostock v. Clayton (2020), the United States Supreme Court labeled sexual orientation- and gender identity- based discrimination as categories of sex-based discrimination, therefore expanding the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to a greater portion of the LGBTQIA+ community. Through the use of literature review and case analysis, this research demonstrates an unwillingness to transcend the gender binary and an ever-growing reliance on the textualist perspective within federal jurisprudence. These findings suggest that, while Bostock has brought progressive Title VII protections, its success is not paralleled in its utilization surrounding Title IX. Such inconsistencies illustrate the larger problem of the dichotomous language of Justice Gorsuch’s majority opinion which ensures that Bostock is only sporadically honored within Title IX cases on behalf of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals.