Court Reinstates Gay Stagehand’s Bias Claim Against Nashville Union

A stagehand who claims he lost work on country music awards shows because he is gay has won a federal court ruling that allows him to pursue a discrimination lawsuit against the Nashville local of the theater workers union.

A ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued Tuesday directs a federal court in Nashville to reinstate Marty Gilbert’s claim against Local 46 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. However, the court dismissed much of Gilbert’s lawsuit, finding that he had no grounds to sue the Country Music Association, Country Music Television and CMT’s parent company, MTV Networks.

“The union disputes Mr. Gilbert’s version of the events,” Local 46’s attorney, Mark Mayhew, said Wednesday. “The union does not believe that it failed to represent him or that it discriminated against him in any way, and we expect to be able to prove that.”

Gilbert claimed in his 2009 lawsuit that the union local retaliated against him after he complained about another union member who called him by a gay slur and threatened to stab him while the two were working on the 2007 CMA Awards show.

“This was not an empty threat,” the court opinion says, because Gilbert was told the man who made the threat had been charged with stabbing several gays in Atlanta.

According to court documents in the case, the union local had an “exclusive hiring hall” agreement to refer its members for work with CMA and CMT. Gilbert claimed in court documents that officials with Local 46 refused to respond to his complaints against the other union member and did nothing when a third union member made anti-gay comments during a meeting.

Gilbert claimed the local also quit referring him for jobs, intervened to persuade the gospel music Stellar Awards to rescind a deal to hire him for its 2009 show, showed CMA and CMT a fabricated letter of complaint against him and unfairly suspended his membership.

“No doubt, the events Gilbert describes, if true, are at least in bad taste if not themselves deserving of condemnation,” the opinion says. But the court found that Gilbert didn’t have a claim against CMA, CMT or MTV because relevant federal and Tennessee discrimination protection doesn’t extend to gays.

The appeals case allowed the case against the union local to proceed, finding that it has a duty of fair representation that requires it to serve all members without hostility or discrimination. The appellate ruling said Gilbert couldn’t sue IATSE because he didn’t prove that the international union was closely involved with the actions of the local.

Gilbert is seeking lost wages, reinstatement in the union, punitive damages and other relief.