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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, but if a white guy is not selected for an important project because the client wants a certain number of women/POC, how is this not race/sex discrimination?  Unfortunately the flip side of inclusion is sometimes exclusion.  [/quote]

Because white guys aren't a protected class. I hope you aren't a lawyer. SMH.[/quote]

Sure they are if they're alleging race or sex discrimination. Title vii prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and sex; it doesn't specifically protect only blacks or only women. [/quote]

You don't understand what "protected class" means in this context. To distill it at the risk of oversimplifying, a protected class is a group of people who historically have been discriminated against by the dominant group. Women have historically been discriminated against, as have racial and ethnic minorities; therefore, these groups are considered protected classes. White men, as the group that historically has done the discriminating and been very much favored themselves, are not a protected class.

In the context of anti-discrimination laws, you are correct that discrimination based on race or gender is not permissible regardless of which race and gender you are, but that is not the same thing as saying all races and genders are protected classes. What protected class status gives you in a discrimination action is essentially a lower burden of proof. It's saying that because you are part of a group that historically has been discriminated against, we are more inclined to believe it happened here as well based on a particular level of proof. When the complainant is not part of a protected class but instead is part of the group that historically has been very much favored in a context such as employment, you have to go further to prove that you were discriminated against based on race/gender because it's just so much less likely to be the case. The burden of proof is still high for everyone, though.[/quote]

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