Court Nixes Appeal of Academic Advisor’s Sex Orientation Discrimination Claim

An Arts department academic advisor hired to support undergrads used location-based apps like Scruff, Grindr and Manhunt to connect with about 150 other gay men, including 20 students over a 3-year period. When the university found out, it terminated him for violating its conflict-of-interest policy. The advisor contended that the real reason he got fired was for being gay and stereotypes about gay male men being sexual predators. The BC Human Rights Tribunal disagreed and tossed his sexual orientation discrimination complaint, finding that the university’s decision to terminate was based on its obligation to protect students from being exposed to contacts with persons in positions of authority for sexual purposes. The BC Supreme Court ruled that the advisor didn’t prove that the Tribunal’s ruling was “patently unreasonable” and tossed the appeal [Conklin v University of British Columbia, 2021 BCSC 1569 (CanLII), August 12, 2021].