What’s Missing? Addressing the Inadequate LGBT Protections in the Missouri Human Rights Act

Most Missourians can move into homes with their partners, put up pictures of their spouses at their workplace desks, or book a hotel room for an overnight stay with a carefree confidence that these actions will not result in harassment or discriminatory repercussions. Unfortunately, this is not true for all of the state’s residents. Approximately 160,000 adults in Missouri identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (“LGBT”). Accordingly, approximately 160,000 adults in Missouri are particularly vulnerable to workplace, housing, and public accommodations discrimination as the Missouri Human Rights Act (“MHRA”), Missouri’s general anti-discrimination statute, does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2015, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, held in Pittman v. Cook Paper Recycling Corp. that the MHRA’s prohibition on sex-based discrimination does not extend to prohibit sexual orientation-based discrimination