Court Won't Rehear Ruling Allowing Discrimination Against Gay Workers Under Existing Law

An appeals court on Thursday declined to rehear a case involving a security guard who claims she was fired because she's a lesbian.

In March, a three-judge panel of the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled 2-1 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The plaintiff in the case is Jameka Evans, a former security guard at Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah. In her lawsuit, filed in 2015, Evans claims that she was targeted for harassment and effectively drummed out of her job because she's gay.

Evans is represented by Lambda Legal, which said that it would file an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Other federal courts have reached the opposite conclusion, including the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

(Related: Appeals court finds existing law protects gay workers from discrimination.)

Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told the AP that it's uncertain when the Supreme Court will take up the issue.

“The issue is ripe whenever the Supreme Court decides the issue is ripe,” Levitt said. “Having a distinct circuit split like this, some of the justices will be comfortable letting it percolate a little bit more, and some may want to bring it to resolution sooner.”