The ruling doesn’t change the law immediately but stands to influence future decisions.

A federal judge in Texas has added to the growing number of rulings asserting that existing civil rights law bans anti-LGBT discrimination.

Judge Lee Rosenthal’s ruling, issued last week, doesn’t automatically change the law but does stand to affect how other courts interpret it. And some case involving the law may eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could change the law for the entire nation.

Rosenthal, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, ruled in a lawsuit brought by Nicole Wittmer, an engineer who claimed that energy company Phillips 66 had rejected her for a job because she’s transgender, The Dallas Morning News reports. Rosenthal found that Wittmer hadn’t proved the company had discriminated, but if it had, she would have had a case under Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The law, in banning sex discrimination, also bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Rosenthal.

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