LGBT Discrimination Research Earns Professor National Science Foundation Grant


Dr. Amanda Baumle

Dr. Amanda Baumle, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology, was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in the amount of $294,492 to study sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment.

In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s strategic enforcement plan conceptualized gender identity and sexual orientation claims as sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and began accepting charges from individuals throughout the country in 2013. The EEOC’s treatment of these cases as sex discrimination is currently being challenged in several courts, and it is likely that a case will come before the Supreme Court in the near future. In this project, Dr. Baumle will examine how the employee, employer, and administrative actors are shaping this developing body of civil rights law.