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)
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)
“When I quit working, I lost all sense of identity in about fifteen minutes.”
—Paige Rense (b. 1929)