Epilogue

Abstract

The First Circuit reversed the district court's order dismissing Lucas Rosa's claim against Park West Bank. The appeals court's reversal seems to be part of an emerging nationwide rejection of cases from the 1970s and 1980s. In these cases courts summarily dismissed sex discrimination claims brought by transgender plaintiffs, no matter how squarely the facts appeared to present a clear-cut case of discrimination based on sex. This created that appeared to be a "transgender" exception to sex discrimination law. Earlier courts ignored what the First Circuit recognized here-that a bank officer who tells an applicant to go home, change, and return presenting a more masculine appearance may very well have engaged in sex discrimination, even where the applicant may fairly be characterized as transgender or "cross-dressing."

Keywords: Lucas Rosa v. Park West Bank and Trust Company, discrimination, bank, gender, sex, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, ECOA, civil rights and discrimination