Judge Kacsmaryk Guts LGBTQ Job Protections in Texas Ruling

AMARILLO, TX — (May 20, 2025) — A federal judge in Texas has just taken a sledgehammer to LGBTQ workplace protections—striking down key parts of Title VII in a ruling that openly defies the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a far-right Trump appointee with a long record of siding with extremist legal arguments, ruled that Title VII no longer protects LGBTQ Americans from workplace discrimination. That flies directly in the face of the Supreme Court’s 2020 landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is, by definition, sex discrimination under federal law.

“A Texas judge just erased key LGBTQ job protections, defying SCOTUS and accelerating the far-right’s Project 2025 agenda.”

The case was brought by the state of Texas and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group closely linked to Project 2025 — an aggressive far-right blueprint to dismantle federal protections for queer Americans and roll back civil rights. Their legal challenge targeted the EEOC’s workplace guidance, which states that employers may not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Kacsmaryk sided with them completely.

 Trans Workers Targeted

In his ruling, Kacsmaryk upheld a Texas Department of Agriculture policy that forces employees to dress based on their so-called “biological gender”, stating that “men may wear pants” and “women may wear dresses, skirts, or pants.” He also backed the department’s restroom bans for trans workers, declaring these policies “neutral and non-discriminatory.”

But neutrality, in this case, is erasure.
His logic is that the policies apply “equally” — even when they completely invalidate transgender identity and erase the lived reality of queer people on the job.

Redefining Harassment and Discrimination

Perhaps even more disturbingly, Kacsmaryk argued that harassment protections don’t apply to LGBTQ people. He stated that Title VII only prevents firing someone for being gay or trans, but does not prevent other forms of mistreatment, such as misgendering, verbal abuse, or forced dress codes.

“Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling guts Title VII protections for LGBTQ workers, rejecting Supreme Court precedent and reshaping EEOC policy nationwide.”

This interpretation directly contradicts the letter and the spirit of the Bostock ruling, which made clear that anti-LGBTQ mistreatment in any form falls under sex discrimination.

Federal Policy Rollback

The ruling also orders the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) to remove all references to sexual orientation and gender identity from its Title VII guidance. In practical terms, this means:

• The federal government can no longer define “sex discrimination” to include anti-LGBTQ+ bias.

• Employers in Texas and potentially beyond now have legal cover to enact discriminatory policies.

“In a blow to trans rights, a federal judge backed bathroom bans and ‘biological dress codes’ for workers—dismissing gender identity as protected under Title VII.”

This decision marks one of the most aggressive judicial rollbacks of LGBTQ civil rights in modern U.S. history.

What’s Next?

Legal analysts expect the decision to face appeals, but with a right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court and a Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority, the future of workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans remains deeply uncertain.

For queer workers — especially trans employees — this ruling sends a chilling message:
Your rights can be erased with the stroke of a pen.

Stay with JRL CHARTS LGBT Politics for continuous updates on this story.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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