Grady ruling in 1983 presaged Supreme Court LGBT decision

Civil Rights

By Gabriel A. Fuentes

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes took office in May 2019 after 20 years in private practice at Jenner & Block LLP and five years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago. He is a former president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and a former law clerk to Judge John F. Grady.

Posted June 23, 2020 9:51 AM

Last week’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision extending federal employment law protection to gay and transgender persons would have come as no surprise to the bold Chicago federal judge who reached the same conclusion 37 years ago in a landmark decision of his own.U.S. District Judge John F. Grady, who died last December at age 90 after 39 years of service on Chicago’s federal bench, found in 1983 that Eastern Airlines had unlawfully discriminated against pilot Karen Ulane when the airline fired her upon learning that …

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