News Notes: Federal Discrimation Laws Don’t Cover Sexual Orientation

Medina Rene, a butler at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, filed a lawsuit claiming that because of his sexual orientation he endured daily harassment by his male co-workers and supervisor. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his case, reaffirming a 1979 ruling that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation does not violate federal civil rights laws. Despite this decision, sexual orientation bias is illegal under California’s anti-discrimination statute. Plus, federal law prohibits same-sex harassment, although the court didn’t consider that issue here because Rene failed to raise it.