A D.C. Superior Court judge has ruled that ex-gays are a protected class under the District’s broad Human Rights Act, the same law that ensures gays, minorities and a range of other groups are safe from hate crimes.
Judge Maurice Ross has reversed an earlier ruling by the D.C. Office of Human Rights that found ex-gays were not protected under the act, “because it directly contravenes the plain language and intent of the statute.”
The decision emerged from a complaint filed more than five years ago by the Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, an organization that claims to lead the nation “in providing outreach and public awareness in support of families and the ex-gay community.”
The human rights office ruled in 2005 that the National Education Association was legally right to bar PFOX from leasing an exhibit booth during the NEA’s annual convention in Dallas three years earlier.
PFOX appealed to the D.C. Superior Court. In his ruling, issued in June, Ross found “no probable cause the NEA discriminated against PFOX on the basis of sexual orientation when it denied public accommodation services.” The NEA, the judge said, had the right to exclude the ex-gay group because it believed the organization was hostile toward homosexuals.
But Ross also ruled that the District’s human rights office “erred in determining that ex-gays are not a protected class under the HRA.” The law prohibits acts of discrimination against 18 classes, including gays and the homeless.
“The premise of the HRA is simple: to end all discrimination based on anything other than individual merit,” the judge wrote.
PFOX released the decision Tuesday, once it decided not to appeal the decision, said Regina Griggs, the group’s executive director.
“We consider it a win,” Griggs said. “While the NEA rejected us because they didn’t want to upset their gay members by having an ex-gay table there, at the same time the government and the human rights division of D.C. was guilty of discrimination. In reality former homosexuals are protected.”
Ross’ ruling perplexed members of D.C.’s gay community.
“If they’re no longer gay, what are they?” said Peter Rosenstein. “Under which category are they a protected class? It’s a bizarre ruling.”
The human rights office “duly note[d]” the judge’s decision, a spokeswoman said.
The gay and ex-gay communities are at permanent loggerheads. PFOX advocates a position that sexual orientation is a “matter of self-affirmation and public declaration,” something that can be rejected or reversed. Most gays, meanwhile, say they were born with their sexual orientation already determined.
