Paragraph Styles ISSUE: Did Ms. Stephens employer terminate her based on sex when she was terminated because of her decision to make her transgender status public? RULE: An employer violates Title VII of the 1964 United States Civil Rights Act when it intentionally fires an individual employee based in part on sex. It makes no difference if other factors besides the plaintiff's sex contributed to the decision or that the employer treated women as a group the same when compared to men as a group. A statutory violation occurs if an employer intentionally relies in part on an individual employee's sex when deciding to discharge the employee. NOTE: Although there are laws in both New York State and New York City protecting against discrimination based on gender identity, there is no federal law providing this protection. FACTS: Aimee Stephens worked at R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Homes in Garden City, Michigan. When she got the job, Ms. Stephens presented as a male. But two years into her service with the company, she began treatment for despair and loneliness. Ultimately, clinicians diagnosed her with gender dysphoria and recommended that she begin living as a woman. In her sixth year with the company, Ms. Stephens wrote a letter to her employer explaining that she planned to "live and work full-time as a woman" after she returned from an upcoming vacation. The funeral home fired her before she left, telling her "this is not going to work out." Stephens was a funeral director who had been working for R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes in Michigan for six years when she was fired. Her firing came two weeks after she announced in a letter to her coworkers that, though she had been born male, she identified as a woman and would begin living as her true self. Coworkers said that Stephens was very good at her job, and her employer made it clear that she was fired because of her decision to make her transgender status public Explain why Ms. Stephens' termination based on her sex is illegal under Title VII. The thread should be no less than 200 words. D. Focus