Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment. Last June, the Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County , 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020), held that Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On January 20, 2021, the President issued Executive Order 13988, entitled “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation”. Based on the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision, the Executive Order directs all federal agencies to fully enforce statutes and agencies to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On February 11, 2021, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued a memorandum directing that all state and local Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies, including the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) organizations, including the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit (Center), interpret sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act to include discrimination claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, the memorandum requires that all FHAP agencies and FHIP organizations within thirty days review all legations of discrimination in the past year to identify and notify any persons who alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity that their claims may be timely and jurisdictional for filing.

The Center, prior to Bostock, interpreted the Fair Housing Act as covering housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and transgender status. The Center made this clear in its fair housing training, as well as in the Center’s complaint intake and investigation. Nonetheless, the President’s Executive Order and the HUD’s FHEO memorandum provide needed clarification on an official level that the Fair Housing Act applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other sex-based classifications.

As a result of these developments, the Center investigates and enforces the following 9 protected class categories under the Fair Housing Act and Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act and Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act: race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, and other sex-based classifications), disability, familial status (families with children), age, and marital status.

The Center also investigates and enforces additional protected class categories under various local ordinances.