{"id":3120,"date":"2021-11-13T03:53:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T03:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-cornell-law-review.pantheonsite.io\/?p=3120"},"modified":"2021-11-13T03:53:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T03:53:48","slug":"bostock-v-clayton-county-the-implications-of-a-binary-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/2021\/11\/13\/bostock-v-clayton-county-the-implications-of-a-binary-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Bostock v. Clayton County: The Implications of a Binary Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This Note focuses specifically on the implications of <em>Bostock v. Clayton County<\/em> for nonbinary people. Although part of the broader transgender community, nonbinary people do not directly enter into the Court\u2019s analysis.<sup class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">1<\/sup><\/a><cite class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><span class=\"footnote-inner\">1. Vin Gurrieri, Questions About \u2018Nonbinary\u2019 Bias Linger After LGBT Ruling, LAW 360 (June 19, 2020), https:\/\/www.law360.com\/articles\/1284955\/questions-about-nonbinary-bias-linger-after-lgbt-ruling&nbsp;&#x2026; <span class=\"footnote_tooltip_continue\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_1');\">Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/cite><\/sup><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3120_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> Indeed, the only mention of gender identity beyond the binary spectrum appears in Justice Alito\u2019s dissent as a cautionary warning against the dangers of protecting people who do not hold stable male or female identities.<sup class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">2<\/sup><\/a><cite class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><span class=\"footnote-inner\">2. Bostock, 140 S. Ct. at 1779 (Alito, J., dissenting) (worrying that \u201cindividuals who are \u2018gender fluid,\u2019 . . . who ha[ve] not undertaken any physical transitioning may claim the right to use the&nbsp;&#x2026; <span class=\"footnote_tooltip_continue\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_2');\">Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/cite><\/sup><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3120_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> Furthermore, Justice Gorsuch\u2019s strict textualist logic rests on a binary framework of sex and gender, which seems to depend upon the nonexistence of nonbinary identity altogether.<sup class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">3<\/sup><\/a><cite class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><span class=\"footnote-inner\">3. See id. at 1739 (framing his analysis with a definition of \u201csex\u201d expressed exclusively in terms of \u201cmale and female\u201d).<\/span><\/cite><\/sup><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3120_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> Although experts again seem to agree that <em>Bostock<\/em>\u2019s protections will reach nonbinary people,<sup class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">4<\/sup><\/a><cite class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><span class=\"footnote-inner\">4. See, e.g., 3 MERRICK T. ROSSEIN, Title VII and Employees with Non-Binary Identity\u2014Generally, in EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW AND LITIGATION, supra note 10, at \u00a7 27:13 (asserting that Bostock\u2019s&nbsp;&#x2026; <span class=\"footnote_tooltip_continue\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_3120_1('footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_4');\">Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/cite><\/sup><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3120_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> the question remains how. I argue that the language and framework chosen by litigators and courts to clarify the protection of nonbinary employees under <em>Bostock <\/em>will impact the degree to which nonbinary plaintiffs do or do not enjoy equal antidiscrimination protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Note will address the disconnect between the liberatory promise of <em>Bostock <\/em>and the implications of the case\u2019s constricting language for the developing legal rights of gender nonbinary people. First, I will provide background information about the wide breadth of sex and gender variance existing outside the scope of the Court\u2019s imagination in Bostock, with a focus on transgender and nonbinary diversity. I will then explain how the dominance of binary transgender plaintiffs in prior sex stereotyping case law has failed to adequately represent gender nonbinary needs and left them stranded between transgender and gender nonconforming rights. Next, I will explain how the Court\u2019s choice in <em>Bostock v. Clayton County<\/em> to extend protections to transgender people on textualist rather than sex stereotyping grounds both avoids and reproduces some of the pitfalls of prior case law while introducing new challenges for nonbinary plaintiffs. Finally, I will analyze several arguments available to litigators to secure protections for nonbinary people under <em>Bostock <\/em>and the relative strengths of each. I argue that unless litigators can convince courts to directly include nonbinary people in <em>Bostock<\/em>\u2019s holding, nonbinary plaintiffs may still be subject to the same compromised protection afforded them under prior sex stereotyping case law. Ultimately, nonbinary people will only gain full protection under a model that recognizes them in their own right, rather than views nonbinary claims as merely weaker versions of transgender or gender nonconforming ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read this Note, please click here: <a href=\"https:\/\/live-cornell-law-review.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Russell-note-final.pdf\">Bostock v. Clayton County<em>: The Implications of a Binary Bias<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3120_1();\">References<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3120_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3120_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_3120_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_3120_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Vin Gurrieri, Questions About \u2018Nonbinary\u2019 Bias Linger After LGBT Ruling, LAW 360 (June 19, 2020), <span class=\"footnote_url_wrap\">https:\/\/www.law360.com\/articles\/1284955\/questions-about-nonbinary-bias-linger-after-lgbt-ruling<\/span> [<span class=\"footnote_url_wrap\">https:\/\/perma.cc\/CML7V9WD].<\/span><\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_3120_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Bostock, 140 S. Ct. at 1779 (Alito, J., dissenting) (worrying that \u201cindividuals who are \u2018gender fluid,\u2019 . . . who ha[ve] not undertaken any physical transitioning may claim the right to use the bathroom or locker room assigned to the sex with which the individual identifies at that particular time\u201d (citation omitted).<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_3120_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">See id. at 1739 (framing his analysis with a definition of \u201csex\u201d expressed exclusively in terms of \u201cmale and female\u201d).<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_3120_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_3120_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_3120_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">See, e.g., 3 MERRICK T. ROSSEIN, Title VII and Employees with Non-Binary Identity\u2014Generally, in EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW AND LITIGATION, supra note 10, at \u00a7 27:13 (asserting that Bostock\u2019s holding \u201capplies with equal force to non-binary people as it does to transgender men and women\u201d).<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_3120_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3120_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3120_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_3120_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3120_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_3120_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_3120_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_3120_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3120_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_3120_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_3120_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3120_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_3120_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_3120_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Note focuses specifically on the implications of Bostock v. Clayton County for nonbinary people. Although part of the broader transgender community, nonbinary people do not directly enter into the Court\u2019s analysis.11. Vin Gurrieri, Questions About \u2018Nonbinary\u2019 Bias Linger After LGBT Ruling, LAW 360 (June 19, 2020), https:\/\/www.law360.com\/articles\/1284955\/questions-about-nonbinary-bias-linger-after-lgbt-ruling&nbsp;&#x2026; Continue reading Indeed, the only mention of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,46,52],"tags":[130,159,353,488,599],"class_list":["post-3120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-6-print-volume-106","category-notes","category-print-volume-106","tag-antidiscrimination","tag-bostock-v-clayton-county","tag-gender-variance","tag-nonbinary","tag-sex-and-gender"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/lawreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}