Article by Professor Soucek cited by court in discrimination case

An award-winning article by Professor Brian Soucek was cited in a recent discrimination case in Pennsylvania.

A federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania repeatedly cited and quoted his article, “Perceived Homosexuals: Looking Gay Enough for Title VII,” in Guess v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, decided on Jan. 24. Guess was brought by a heterosexual worker alleging sexual orientation discrimination by co-workers and supervisors who thought he was gay.

Relying on the article, the court calls on the Third Circuit to overrule case law saying that employees cannot bring sexual orientation claims under federal anti-discrimination law. The U.S. Supreme Court has also recently been asked to decide the same question; three of the briefs before the Supreme Court also cite Professor Soucek’s article, which won the Dukeminier Award in 2014 as one of the year’s best articles on sexual orientation or gender identity law.

Professor Soucek’s primary teaching and research interests are anti-discrimination law, civil procedure, constitutional law, and refugee/asylum law. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D from Columbia University. He has clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Mark R. Kravitz in Connecticut, and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.