Discussion Questions:

1. Leonard provided details stemming from multiple court cases where gay workers were
discriminated because of their sexual orientation. The first court case he brings up is Romer v.
Evans which took place in 1996 where, for the first time ever, the Supreme Court ruled that
government descrimination based on sexual orientation violates the Equal Protection Clause
under the Fourteenth Amendment and that anti-gay policies that have no real justification violate
the equal protection guarantee. Another court case he brought up was Weaver v. Nebo School
District which took place in 1998, the court ruled it a constitutional violation when the school
district relieved a lesbian coach teacher and tried to restrict her from openly discussing her
sexuality. Leonard also discusses regulations beyond federal and state laws, he emphasizes Title
VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 which aims to help sexual minority employees who
may have experienced discrimination and/or harrassment in the work place.

2. Hernandez-Leon and Lakhani observed gender differences within the Latino immigrant
community. Many of these observations had to do with second generation females being more
likely to succeed academically than second generation males, while the males tend to decline
advancing academically and would rather work. In this study, it was noticed that beginning as
children, latino girls are typically expected to have better behavior and their actions are very
closely monitored. This ultimately leads to higher educational achievements compared to boys
and also carries over to work ambitions. Work ethic seems to be disciplined for both men and
women while both genders were noticed to be motivated by their economic circumstance or the
obligation to their families. Both genders involved in this study began working at a young age of
about 16. All the people interviewed were proficient in both English and Spanish, were
knowledgeable on US Institutions, and their careers overall represented consistent mobility as
many of them moved up to better jobs with less than 10 years of experience.

Leonard, Arthur S. “The Gay Rights Workplace Revolution.” American Bar Association, Human
Rights Magazine, 1 July 2003,
www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vo
l30_2003/summer2003/hr_summer03_workplace/.