Despite her spotless employment record, Krystal Etsitty, a transgender woman, was fired from her job as a public bus driver by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), solely because the UTA feared that members of the public might be offended by Etsitty’s transgender identity.

A federal district court in Utah dismissed Etsitty’s case, holding that federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination do not protect transgender people. Etsitty appealed this decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against her. NCLR, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU filed an amicus brief supporting Etsitty’s claim.