Expanding rights under the Fair Housing Act

(a) Purposes The purposes of the amendments made by this section are— (1) to expand, as well as clarify, confirm, and create greater consistency in, the protections against discrimination on the basis of all covered characteristics; and (2) to provide guidance and notice to individuals, organizations, corporations, and agencies regarding their obligations under Federal law. (b) Amendments to the Fair Housing Act The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) is amended— (1) in section 802 (42 U.S.C. 3602), by adding at the end the following: (p) Gender identity means the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth. (q) Marital status has the meaning given the term in section 202.2 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. (r) Sexual orientation means homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. (s) Source of income includes income for which there is a reasonable expectation that the income will continue from— (1) a profession, occupation, or job; (2) any government or private assistance, grant, loan, or rental assistance program, including vouchers issued under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.); (3) a gift, an inheritance, a pension, an annuity, alimony, child support, or other consideration or benefit; or (4) the sale or pledge of property or an interest in property. (t) Veteran status means— (1) a member of the uniformed services, as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code; or (2) a veteran, as defined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.; (2) in section 804 (42 U.S.C. 3604)— (A) by inserting actual or perceived before race, color each place that term appears; (B) by striking sex, each place that term appears and inserting sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), marital status, source of income, veteran status,; and (C) in subsection (c)— (i) by inserting (1) before To make; and (ii) by adding at the end the following: (2) Nothing in this title shall be construed to— (A) prohibit a lender from implementing a loan program for veterans or based upon veteran status; or (B) prohibit an entity from providing housing assistance under— (i) section 8(o)(19) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)); (ii) the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem program of the Department of Veterans Affairs; or (iii) any other Federal housing assistance program for veterans or based on veteran status.; (3) in section 805 (42 U.S.C. 3605)— (A) by inserting actual or perceived before race, color each place that term appears; and (B) by striking sex, each place that term appears and inserting sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), marital status, source of income, veteran status,; (4) in section 806 (42 U.S.C. 3606)— (A) by inserting actual or perceived before race, color; and (B) by striking sex, each place that term appears and inserting sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), marital status, source of income, veteran status,; and (5) in section 808(e)(6) (42 U.S.C. 3608(e)(6)), by striking sex, and inserting sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), marital status, source of income, veteran status,. (c) Prevention of intimidation Section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) is amended— (1) by inserting actual or perceived before race, color each place that term appears; and (2) by striking sex, each place that term appears and inserting sex (including sexual orientation (as such term is defined in section 802 of this Act) and gender identity (as defined in section 802 of this Act)), marital status (as defined in section 802), source of income (as defined in section 802), veteran status (as defined in section 802),. (d) Rule of construction Nothing in the amendments made by this section shall be construed to mean that a particular class of individuals was not protected against discrimination under Federal law as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act.