I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4376 
To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to prohibit discrimination on 
account of sexual orientation or gender identity when extending credit. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 16, 2009 
Mr. ISRAEL (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 
POLIS
of Colorado, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. MORAN
of Virginia, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. 
WEINER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HONDA, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 
CROWLEY, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. NADLER of New York, Ms. WAT-
SON, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. 
SHERMAN, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of Cali-
fornia, Mr. PETERS, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. 
LEE of California, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. OLVER, 
Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. WU, Ms. 
CLARKE, Ms. CHU, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CLAY, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. 
MURPHY of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to prohibit 
discrimination on account of sexual orientation or gender 
identity when extending credit. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom from Dis-
crimination in Credit Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION ON AC-
COUNT OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GEN-
DER IDENTITY. 
Subsection (a)(1) of section 701 of the Equal Credit 
Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘on the basis of race, color, reli-
gion, national origin, sex or marital status,’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘on the basis of race, color, re-
ligion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender 
identity, or marital status,’’. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 702 of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 
U.S.C. 1691a) is amended— 
(1) by striking subsections (f) and (g); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing new subsections: 
‘‘(f) The term ‘gender identity’ means the gender-re-
lated identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gen-
der-related characteristics of an individual, with or with-
out regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth. 
‘‘(g) The term ‘person’ means a natural person, a 
corporation, government or governmental subdivision or 
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agency, trust, estate, partnership, cooperative, or associa-
tion. 
‘‘(h) The term ‘sexual orientation’ means homosex-
uality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. 
‘‘(i) Any reference to any requirement imposed under 
this title or any provision of this title shall be deemed to 
include a reference to the regulations of the Board under 
this title or the provision of this title in question.’’. 
Æ 
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