The Latest: Plaintiff: Time To Stop Punishing LGBT People

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on a federal appeals court in Chicago ruling the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination (all times local):

7 p.m.

An Indiana teacher who's the plaintiff in the case in which a federal appeals court in Chicago ruled the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination says she filed her lawsuit because she felt she was being "bullied."

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in a case brought by Kimberly Hively of South Bend. She alleged Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend didn't hire her full-time because she's a lesbian.

Hively says that what happened to her was "wrong." She told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the time has come "to stop punishing people for being gay, being lesbian, being transgender."

She says, "It's 2017 and all classes should be protected."

5:48 p.m.

A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled the 1964 Civil Rights Act does protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination.

The decision comes after the 7th Circuit rejected a July finding by three of its own judges that the law doesn't cover sexual-orientation bias and ordered a rare rehearing by the full court.

The case stems from a lawsuit by Indiana teacher Kimberly Hively alleging that the Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend didn't hire her full-time because she is a lesbian.

The entire court reheard oral arguments in November and directed the toughest questions at a lawyer who argued only Congress could extend protections.