Thomas "Tom" Mew (from left ), Gerald Bostock and Chief Judge Steven Teske.

For Atlanta resident Gerald Bostock, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling Monday affirming Title VII discrimination protection for the LGBTQ community is not the end of the legal fight over his 2013 firing.

Bostock's job discrimination suit against the Clayton County Commission, which he first filed pro se in 2016, was never decided on the merits. 

Instead, Senior District Judge Orinda Evans granted the Clayton County Commission's motion to dismiss the case in 2017, adopting arguments that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community, even though it outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex.

"I think it's important to note that, for Gerald, while this has been a very long journey, it is very much in the early days of his underlying case," Bostock counsel Thomas Mew of Atlanta's Buckley Beal said Tuesday. "There has been no substantive discovery. We are basically starting close to square one on the underlying case."

Bostock was the child welfare services coordinator assigned to Clayton County Juvenile Court when he was fired for "conduct unbecoming" an employee in 2013, several months after he began playing in a gay recreational softball league. His participation in the league and his sexual orientation soon generated criticism "by one or more persons with significant influence" on county decision-making at a county meeting Bostock attended, according to Evans' dismissal ruling. 

Bostock contends that criticism was the impetus for an internal audit of the Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, program that he managed. Bostock and his counsel maintain that he never mismanaged funds under his control and that the audit was a pretext for firing him.

"Seven years ago, I never realized I would lose my dream job, all because I made a decision to join a gay softball league," Bostock said. "It was an easy decision to move forward and to stand up, not only for myself. I realized very early on this was such a big, important issue that impacts so many people across the country that I had to do something."

"One of the main things I learned is patience," he said. "Because of my sense of who I am and what I seek, I will continue to fight. It's my top priority. I am excited about getting the opportunity to go back to court. My stamina is gonna stay strong. … And I remain optimistic, as I have from day one."

Said Mew: "We are prepared to push forward with Gerald's claims and proceed to trial if necessary. … Obviously, we have no shortage of very able folks who will be able to lend a hand."

Clayton County Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said the county is still considering its options on how to proceed. He confirmed that Clayton County Juvenile Court Chief Judge Steve Teske, who was Bostock's supervisor and authorized his firing, will have a significant say in determining what the county does next.

He also confirmed that the commission would consider recommendations by the county's outside counsel Jack Hancock, a partner at the Atlanta offices of Freeman Mathis & Gary. Hancock declined to comment. 

Clayton County Staff Attorney Charles Reed Jr. could not be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, Teske said Bostock's firing was never about his sexual orientation and was about mismanagement of court fees. Some of those funds intended to recruit CASA volunteers improperly went to the softball team, Teske said.

"All that together created some very poor optics for the court," he said. "It showed poor judgment. It created a trust issue."

The judge said that while he is "ecstatic" about the Supreme Court ruling, "The issue before the Supreme Court had nothing to do with whether or not he [Bostock] was, in fact, terminated because he was gay."

Teske said he supported Bostock's argument that Title VII should extend protections to the LGBTQ community. But he rejected Bostock's claim that his sexual orientation prompted the audit that led to his termination. Teske said he and his wife were friends with Bostock and his partner, socialized with them and introduced them to Teske's children and his parents during the decade that Bostock worked at the juvenile court. Bostock's replacement was a lesbian, Teske said.

Teske said he chose not to counter Bostock's narrative while the case was making its way to the Supreme Court.

But Teske said that, now, Bostock's narrative that he was targeted because he was gay has cast a public shadow on his own motives and beliefs, potentially jeopardizing his longtime advocacy for youth, including juveniles who are often mistreated because they are gay, lesbian or transgender.

"I am proud of Gerald for taking this issue up to the Supreme Court," he said. "Notwithstanding the fact that I don't appreciate him not telling the whole truth, … he couldn't have gotten there if he had revealed the whole truth. Because he didn't reveal the whole truth, he got there. Look what he won. A landmark decision to protect those who are gay and lesbian and transgender. That's the bigger picture here. I don't want that to get lost."

Teske said Hancock has not asked him whether the county should continue to litigate the case, but said he believes the county will continue it.

"Up until this point, I let Gerald control the narrative," Teske said. "There wasn't a need for me to interject the rest of the story because the issue was not about me at the time. It was about whether or not gays should be protected in their place of employment, which I support."

But now, he said, "The landscape has changed. … Now it's about the facts. I can't let him control that."