Yesterday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, introduced the Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act, a measure that would modernize the Fair Housing Act in a number of ways – including extending that law’s protections against housing discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Adopted in 1968, the Fair Housing Act (also known as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act) makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious, national origin, gender, disability, or familial status. The HOME Act is supported by the National Fair Housing Alliance and a number of other fair housing and civil rights groups.
As you’ll recall, early this year Chairman Nadler introduced a bill solely to address LGBT housing discrimination – the Fair and Inclusive Housing Act of 2010. The measure introduced yesterday embodies a broader set of reforms to the Fair Housing Act, and we thank the Chairman for ensuring that equality for our community is a central part of it.
