Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Sexual orientation and gender identity are not protected under the Fair Housing Act. This is because federal law does not protect gays and lesbians or other sexual minorities (transgender or transsexual) with discrimination in housing. There are fifteen states that have passed laws prohibiting discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The states that have passed fair housing laws in regards to sexual orientation and gender identity are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont. In addition to the states above the following five states prohibit discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation only: Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin. There are also cities that have passed laws making discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal. These are: Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Covington (KY), Denver, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Seattle.
In 2012, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued a regulation to prohibit LGBT discrimination in federally-assisted housing programs. The new regulations ensure that the Department's core housing programs are open to all eligible persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Read more about this topic: Civil Rights Act Of 1968
Famous quotes containing the words orientation, gender and/or identity:
“Every orientation presupposes a disorientation.”
—Hans Magnus Enzensberger (b. 1929)
“Most women of [the WW II] generation have but one image of good motherhood—the one their mothers embodied. . . . Anything done “for the sake of the children” justified, even ennobled the mother’s role. Motherhood was tantamount to martyrdom during that unique era when children were gods. Those who appeared to put their own needs first were castigated and shunned—the ultimate damnation for a gender trained to be wholly dependent on the acceptance and praise of others.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)