Darlene Jespersen, a former bartender at the Harrah's Entertain-ment Inc. casino in Reno, Nevada, sued her employer for sex discrimintion. In 2000, Jespersen refused to wear makeup to her job and was fired shortly afterwards. The company's policy requires that female bartenders wear makeup but has no such requirements for the male employees.

Under Title VII, which outlines the rules against discrimination on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, forcing female employees to have different standards than men is unlawful. Jespersen, with the support of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, a gay rights group, appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after the case was dismissed in lower court. She asked that her case be sent back to the lower court for reconsideration. Unfortunately, spokesmen for the casino are confident that the 9th circuit will uphold the district court's ruling.

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