The N.Y. Times published an obituary yesterday for Ann Hopkins, who took her sex discrimination case all the way to the Supreme Court in 1989 and won. Hopkins deserves credit for establishing the connection between sex discrimination and sex sterereotyping. In her case against Price Waterhouse, she alleged that she was denied a partnership because she did not act the way women are stereotypically expected to act -- she used profanity, didn't wear make-up, and needed to take a "course at charm school." Today, the legacy of Hopkins is alive and well in the cases brought by LGBT plaintiffs, who have alleged that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a form of unlawful sex stereotyping.
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