Opinion of the Court
Same-Sex Sexual Harassment is Actionable
The District Court having granted summary judgment for respondent, we must assume the facts to be alleged by Petitioner Joseph Oncale. The precise details are irrelevant to the legal point we must decide and in the interest of both brevity and dignity we shall describe them only generally. In late October 1991, Oncale was working for respondent Sundowner Offshore Services on a Chevron U.S.A., Inc., oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. He was employed as a roustabout on an eight-man crew which included respondents John Lyons,, Danny Pippen, and Brandon Johnson. Lyons, the crane operator, and Pippen, the driller,…
