After he’s called ‘butt pirate’ and ‘faggot,’ homosexual staffer sues

The scenario: A supervisor asked a male crew member whether the man he’d seen with him outside the workplace was his partner. The worker, who was openly homosexual, said the man wasn’t his partner. The supervisor responded, “Good, if homosexuals had any more rights, we might as well legalize pedophilia and bestiality.”

The crew member was appalled by the offensive statement, but it wasn’t the only homophobic comment he heard. For instance, a different supervisor told the homosexual staffer that he had a “cat’s walk” because he swayed his hips a lot and walked like a woman. And the crew member observed a drawing in the break room that offended him. The image depicted a person with the word “faggot” written in large capital letters across the forehead. The gay staffer complained to a supervisor about the drawing, which stayed up for several hours, but the boss shrugged it off and said that “boys will be boys.”

One day while the staffer was helping a male coworker unload a pallet, the colleague asked him whether he was afraid to break a nail. Another employee directed offensive slurs, such as “butt pirate” and “Jerry the fairy,” at the staff member almost every day.

Unable to endure the homophobic behavior any longer, the gay staffer quit.

Legal challenge: The worker sued for sexual orientation discrimination.

The ruling: The company lost. The homosexual employee endured a steady barrage of discriminatory behavior, and his supervisors were aware of the conduct because several of them participated in it.

The skinny: Supervisors who brush off offensive drawings with dismissive comments such as “boys will be boys” are risking unwanted legal scrutiny.

Cite: Jerry Sharpe-Miller v. Walmart Inc., U.S. Court of Appeals 10, No. 24-2055, 7/13/26.

(From the July 24, 2026, issue of HR Manager’s Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)