Her claim of anti-straight bias could upend discrimination law | The Supreme Court will hear a case that could unleash a wave of workplace bias claims by Whites, men and people who are straight

> Marlean Ames was distraught in 2019 when she was bumped from an administrator position at the state agency overseeing youth corrections and replaced by a gay man who she says was less qualified.

> Ames was demoted, and her pay was cut more than $40,000. A few months later, she lost a management job she had applied for to a woman who had not sought the position initially, according to a lawsuit Ames would soon file. That woman, too, was gay.

> Ames’s job discrimination lawsuit makes an unusual claim that could upend how many of the nation’s courts have handled such cases for decades: The department, she says, was biased against straight people like her.

> The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in Ames’s bid to revive her case, which was stymied in the lower courts because of past rulings that set a higher legal bar for men, straight people and Whites to prove bias in the workplace than for groups that have historically faced discrimination. That higher standard is unconstitutional, her suit says.

> The case is being closely watched by corporations and employment lawyers, many of whom expect the high court’s conservative supermajority to side with Ames, now 60, and make it easier for members of majority groups to sue.

> “If she wins, the flood of reverse discrimination claims will be like nothing we’ve ever seen,” said Johnny C. Taylor Jr., chief executive of the human resources association SHRM. “Straight, White people everywhere could be filing.”

> “Little did I know at the time that I filed that my burden was going to be harsher than somebody else’s burden to prove my case,” Ames said. “I want people to try and understand that we’re trying to make this a level playing field for everyone. Not just for a White woman in Ohio.”

!ping LAW

>“If she wins, the flood of reverse discrimination claims will be like nothing we’ve ever seen,” said Johnny C. Taylor Jr., chief executive of the human resources association SHRM. “Straight, White people everywhere could be filing.”

Isn’t that only the case if these people can prove discrimination? I’m not sure many can but why shouldn’t they be allowed to argue their cases on the merits without a higher standard? Obviously, there will be a load of bogus claims made but the quote above almost sounds like an admission that there is some truth to the argument that hiring has been biased against certain populations.

Damn it I was gonna post this. I had the [Reuters article](https://www.reuters.com/legal/straight-womans-reverse-discrimination-case-goes-us-supreme-court-2025-02-26/) ready to go. I’ll be listening to this one and it’ll be my first time listening to OA at all this term. You already pinged law so I’ll just !ping LGBT

DAE anyone else think straight white men are the real oppressed minority. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh😬