I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 217

To amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to

prohibit discrimination on the basis of affectional or sexual orientation,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. TOWNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the

Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing

Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of affectional

or sexual orientation, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civil Rights Amend5 ments Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.

7 (a) PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS.—(1) Section 201(a)

8 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a(a)) is
2

HR 217 IH

1 amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ and inserting ‘‘religion,

2 affectional or sexual orientation,’’.

3 (2) Section 202 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000a–1) is

4 amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ and inserting ‘‘religion,

5 affectional or sexual orientation.’’.

6 (b) PUBLIC FACILITIES.—Section 301(a) of such Act

7 (42 U.S.C. 2000b(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’

8 and inserting ‘‘religion, affectional or sexual orientation,’’.

9 (c) FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS.—Section 601

10 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d) is amended by striking

11 ‘‘color,’’ and inserting ‘‘color, affectional or sexual orienta12 tion,’’.

13 (d) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES.—(1) Sec14 tions 703(a), 703(b), 703(c), 703(d), 703(e), 703(h),

15 703(j), 704(b), 706(g), and 717(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C.

16 2000e–2(a), 2000e–2(b), 2000e–2(c), 2000e–2(d), 2000e–

17 2(e), 2000e–2(h), 2000e–2(j), 2000e–3(b), 2000e–5(g),

18 and 2000e–16(a)) are amended by striking ‘‘sex,’’ each

19 place it appears and inserting ‘‘sex, affectional or sexual

20 orientation,’’.

21 (2) Section 717(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–

22 16(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ and inserting ‘‘sex,

23 affectional or sexual orientation,’’.

24 (3) Section 703(h) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–

25 2(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ the first place it ap-
3

HR 217 IH

1 pears and inserting ‘‘sex, affectional or sexual orienta2 tion,’’.

3 (4) The heading of section 703 of such Act is amend4 ed by striking ‘‘SEX,’’ and inserting ‘‘SEX, AFFECTIONAL

5 OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION,’’.

6 (e) INTERVENTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CIVIL

7 RIGHTS CASES.—Section 902 of such Act (42 U.S.C.

8 2000h–2) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ and inserting

9 ‘‘sex, affectional or sexual orientation,’’.

10 (f) DEFINITION; RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—Title

11 XI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000h et seq.) is amended by

12 adding at the end the following new section:

13 ‘‘AFFECTIONAL OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION

14 ‘‘SEC. 1107. (a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of titles

15 II, III, VI, VII, and IX of this Act, the term ‘affectional

16 or sexual orientation’ means male or female homosex17 uality, heterosexuality, and bisexuality by orientation or

18 practice, by and between consenting adults.

19 ‘‘(b) RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—(1) Nothing in

20 this Act shall be construed to permit or require—

21 ‘‘(A) that a finding of discrimination on the

22 basis of affectional or sexual orientation be based on

23 any statistical differences in the incidence of persons

24 of a particular affectional or sexual orientation in

25 the general population as opposed to the incidence of

26 such persons in the activity concerned; or
4

HR 217 IH

1 ‘‘(B) the use of any quota as a remedy for dis2 crimination on the basis of affectional or sexual ori3 entation.

4 ‘‘(2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require

5 any person to disclose a personal affectional or sexual ori6 entation.’’.

7 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING ACT.

8 (a) HOUSING SALE AND RENTAL, RESIDENTIAL

9 REAL-ESTATE-RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND BROKER10 AGE SERVICES.—(1) Section 804 of the Civil Rights Act

11 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3604) is amended by striking ‘‘reli12 gion,’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘religion, affec13 tional and sexual orientation (as such term is defined in

14 section 802(p)),’’.

15 (2) Section 805 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3605) is

16 amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ each place it appears and

17 inserting ‘‘religion, affectional or sexual orientation (as

18 such term is defined in section 802(p)),’’.

19 (3) Section 806 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3606) is

20 amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ and inserting ‘‘religion,

21 affectional or sexual orientation (as such term is defined

22 in section 802(p)),’’.

23 (b) PREVENTION OF INTIMIDATION.—Section 901 of

24 the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) is amended

25 by striking ‘‘religion,’’ each place it appears and inserting
5

HR 217 IH

1 ‘‘religion, affectional or sexual orientation (as such term

2 is defined in section 802(p)),’’.

3 (c) DEFINITION.—Section 802 of the Civil Rights Act

4 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3602) is amended by adding at the

5 end the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(p) ‘Affectional or sexual orientation’ means male

7 or female homosexuality, heterosexuality, and bisexuality

8 by orientation or practice, by and between consenting

9 adults.’’.

10 (d) RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—(1) Title VIII of

11 the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) is

12 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

13 RULES OF INTERPRETATION REGARDING AFFECTIONAL

14 OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION

15 ‘‘SEC. 821. (a) FINDINGS OF DISCRIMINATION;

16 QUOTAS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to per17 mit or require—

18 ‘‘(1) that a finding of discrimination on the

19 basis of affectional or sexual orientation be based on

20 any statistical differences in the incidence of persons

21 of a particular affectional or sexual orientation in

22 the general population as opposed to the incidence of

23 such persons in the activity concerned; or

24 ‘‘(2) the use of any quota as a remedy for dis25 crimination on the basis of affectional or sexual ori26 entation.
6

HR 217 IH

1 ‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF PRIVACY RIGHTS.—Nothing in

2 this Act shall be construed to require any person to dis3 close a personal affectional or sexual orientation.’’.

4 (2) Title IX of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3631 et seq.)

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

6 ‘‘APPLICATION OF RULES OF INTERPRETATION

7 REGARDING AFFECTIONAL OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION

8 ‘‘SEC. 902. The provisions of this title are subject to

9 the rules of interpretation described in section 821 of this

10 Act.’’.

Æ