EEOC: "[D]iscriminaticm based on sexual orientation is necessarily . . . sex disdcrimination under Title VII"

Well, the administrative agencies have been busy lately! Yesterday, the EEOC issued a decision concluding that sexual orientation discrimination is "inherently" sex-based discrimination. HT: Nicole Fuentes on CaseText (including EEOC's full opinion). The EEOC based its decision on three different legal theories (a straight - no pun intended - disparate treatment claim, associational discrimination, and sex stereotyping):

[A]llegations of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation necessarily state a claim of discrimination on the basis of sex. An employee could show that the sexual orientation discrimination he or she experienced was sex discrimination because it involved treatment that would not have occurred but for the individual's sex; because it was based on the sex of the person(s) the individual associates with; and/or because it was premised on the fundamental sex stereotype, norm or expectation that individuals should be attracted only to those of the opposite sex.

Something tells me we haven't seen the last of this issue . . . .