A federal appeals court in Atlanta has affirmed its decision that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not bar workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Gerald Lynn Bostock claimed in a lawsuit filed in May 2016 that he was fired because he's gay. Bostock worked as a court child welfare services coordinator in Clayton County, which is near Atlanta.

According to the lawsuit, Bostock received good performance evaluations. He was fired in 2013 after roughly a decade on the job, “for Conduct Unbecoming of a Clayton County Employee.” The firing came roughly six months after Bostock joined a gay softball league.

Bostock appealed his case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge dismissed the case. In May, a three-judge panel upheld the lower court's decision, and on Wednesday, the full court declined to reconsider that ruling.

Two of the 11 judges strongly disagreed, the AP reported.

“I cannot explain why a majority of our Court is content to rely on the precedential equivalent of an Edsel with a missing engine, when it comes to an issue that affects so many people,” Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote.

Last year, the 11th Circuit ruled similarly in a separate case involving a woman who claimed she was forced out of her job because she's a lesbian. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The 7th (Chicago) and 2nd (New York) U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have reached opposite conclusions, ruling that Title VII's sex discrimination protections extend to gay men and lesbians.

Bostock's lawyers appealed the case to the Supreme Court in May.