Missouri’s Top Court OKs Gay Worker’s Sex Stereotyping Claim (1)

A gay state worker in Missouri can pursue a claim under the state’s anti-bias law alleging he was discriminated based on sex for failing to conform to traditional gender norms, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in a divided decision.

Addressing an issue of first impression, the state top court’s principal opinion adopted the “sex stereotyping” theory that has developed under federal law in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1989 decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. Price Waterhouse established that treating a woman differently because she doesn’t wear makeup or dresses is sex discrimination, and similar stereotyping of ...