Sticks and stones may break my bones,

…but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.
Eric Idle quotes

It may also cost them a pocketful of cash. Here in Connecticut the Supreme Court just ruled that a person may file a harassment complaint for name calling behind his or her back because of his sexual orientation. The court said that…

The plaintiff was employed by the defendant as a machinist from 1977 until his termination on November 8, 2004.4 Beginning in 1991, the plaintiff became the subject of name-calling on the shop floor of the defendant’s industrial plant. The name-calling consisted of derogatory slurs for homosexuals in Spanish, such as ‘‘pato’’ and ‘‘maricon,’’ and in Italian and English, such as ‘‘pira,’’ ‘‘faggot,’’ and ‘‘homo.’’ The slurs were used in a variety of contexts, including ‘‘faggot go home’’ and ‘‘faggot get out of here.’’ The plaintiff heard such words ‘‘very often,’’ sometimes even ‘‘two or three times
a day.’’ The derogatory words were not spoken to the plaintiff’s face, but were made in his presence, such as directly behind his back while he was operating machinery.

The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and the company appealed the verdict and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court just ruled on the case and said,

The central issue presented by this appeal is whether General Statutes § 46a-81c (1) imposes liability on employers for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent their employees from being subjected to hostile work environments based on their sexual orientation.

I’m not a lawyer, but from what I have read, this ruling basically says that the employer has to ensure a non-hostile work environment. Even through this ruling was for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression was added to statutes, so I would imagine that the same thing will to providing a non-hostile work environment for gender identity and expression.

P.S. My hit counter just passed 10,000 hit!