I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 365
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 7, 1997
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 juris-
diction 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civil Rights Amend-
ments Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.
(a) PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS.—(1) Section 201(a)
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a(a)) is
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amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ and inserting ‘‘religion,
affectional or sexual orientation,’’.
(2) Section 202 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000a–1) is
amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’ and inserting ‘‘religion,
affectional or sexual orientation.’’.
(b) PUBLIC FACILITIES.—Section 301(a) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 2000b(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘religion,’’
and inserting ‘‘religion, affectional or sexual orientation,’’.
(c) FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS.—Section 601
of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d) is amended by striking
‘‘color,’’ and inserting ‘‘color, affectional or sexual orienta-
tion,’’.
(d) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES.—(1) Sec-
tions 703(a), 703(b), 703(c), 703(d), 703(e), 703(h),
703(j), 704(b), 706(g), and 717(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
2000e–2(a), 2000e–2(b), 2000e–2(c), 2000e–2(d), 2000e–
2(e), 2000e–2(h), 2000e–2(j), 2000e–3(b), 2000e–5(g),
and 2000e–16(a)) are amended by striking ‘‘sex,’’ each
place it appears and inserting ‘‘sex, affectional or sexual
orientation,’’.
(2) Section 717(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–
16(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ and inserting ‘‘sex,
affectional or sexual orientation,’’.
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(3) Section 703(h) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–
2(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ the first place it ap-
pears and inserting ‘‘sex, affectional or sexual orienta-
tion,’’.
(4) The heading of section 703 of such Act is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘SEX,’’ and inserting ‘‘SEX, AFFECTIONAL
OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION,’’.
(e) INTERVENTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CIVIL
RIGHTS CASES.—Section 902 of such Act (42 U.S.C.
2000h–2) is amended by striking ‘‘sex’’ and inserting
‘‘sex, affectional or sexual orientation,’’.
(f) DEFINITION; RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—Title
XI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000h et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘AFFECTIONAL OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION
‘‘SEC. 1107. (a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of titles
II, III, VI, VII, and IX of this Act, the term ‘affectional
or sexual orientation’ means male or female homosexual-
ity, heterosexuality, and bisexuality by orientation or prac-
tice, by and between consenting adults.
‘‘(b) RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—(1) Nothing in
this Act shall be construed to permit or require—
‘‘(A) that a finding of discrimination on the
basis of affectional or sexual orientation be based on
any statistical differences in the incidence of persons
of a particular affectional or sexual orientation in
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(b) PREVENTION OF INTIMIDATION.—Section 901 of
the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) is amended
by striking ‘‘religion,’’ each place it appears and inserting
‘‘religion, affectional or sexual orientation (as such term
is defined in section 802(p)),’’.
(c) DEFINITION.—Section 802 of the Civil Rights Act
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3602) is amended by adding at the
end the following new subsection:
‘‘(p) ‘Affectional or sexual orientation’ means male
or female homosexuality, heterosexuality, and bisexuality
by orientation or practice, by and between consenting
adults.’’.
(d) RULES OF INTERPRETATION.—Title VIII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘RULES OF INTERPRETATION REGARDING AFFECTIONAL
OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION
‘‘SEC. 821. (a) FINDINGS
OF
DISCRIMINATION;
QUOTAS.—Nothing is this Act shall be construed to per-
mit or require—
‘‘(1) that a finding of discrimination on the
basis of affectional or sexual orientation be based on
any statistical differences in the incidence of persons
of a particular affectional or sexual orientation in
the general population as opposed to the incidence of
such persons in the activity concerned; or
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‘‘(2) the use of any quota as a remedy for dis-
crimination on the basis of affectional or sexual ori-
entation.
‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF PRIVACY RIGHTS.—Nothing in
this Act shall be construed to require any person to dis-
close a personal affectional or sexual orientation.’’.
(2) Title IX of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3631 et seq.)
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘APPLICATION OF RULES OF INTERPRETATION
REGARDING AFFECTIONAL OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION
‘‘SEC. 902. The provisions of this title are subject to
the rules of interpretation described in section 821 of this
Act.’’.