HR7005-119

What This Bill Does

The Customer Non-Discrimination Act amends Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It adds sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity, to the public-accommodations nondiscrimination rule and to the anti-interference provision. It expands covered public accommodations beyond traditional hotels, restaurants, theaters, and stadiums to include any establishment providing goods, services, or programs, including stores, shopping centers, online retailers or service providers, salons, banks, gas stations, food banks, service or care centers, shelters, travel agencies, funeral parlors, health care, accounting, and legal services. It also covers train, bus, car, taxi, airline, station, depot, and other transportation services. New definitions cover association and perceived characteristics, gender identity, sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, sexual orientation, and intersex traits. Rules require pregnancy and related conditions to receive treatment no less favorable than other physical conditions and require access to shared facilities consistent with gender identity. The bill preserves other claims and remedies, prevents negative inference against other sex-discrimination laws, treats establishments as including individuals whose operations affect commerce, and bars the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from supplying a claim or defense to Title II enforcement.

Who Benefits and How

LGBTQ customers, pregnant customers, intersex customers, people associated with protected individuals, and people perceived to have protected characteristics benefit from explicit federal protection in public accommodations. Customers using online retailers, banks, salons, shelters, transportation services, health care, accounting, legal, funeral, food-bank, and other service providers benefit because the covered-establishment list becomes much broader. Civil rights plaintiffs and enforcement agencies benefit from preserved remedies and from removing RFRA as a defense to Title II claims.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Retailers, online service providers, banks, salons, food banks, shelters, travel agencies, funeral homes, transportation providers, health care providers, accounting firms, legal service providers, and other establishments must update nondiscrimination policies, staff training, facility-access rules, customer-service practices, and complaint handling. Religious organizations and businesses that would otherwise raise RFRA defenses bear litigation risk because RFRA cannot provide a claim or defense under the amended Title II. Courts and civil-rights enforcement agencies must apply the broader definitions and establishment coverage.

Key Provisions

• Adds sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity, to Title II public-accommodations protections.
• Expands covered establishments to retail, online, service, transportation, health, accounting, legal, shelter, and other providers.
• Defines sex to include sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.
• Requires shared-facility access consistent with gender identity.
• Preserves other civil-rights claims and remedies and prevents negative inference for other sex-discrimination laws.
• Bars RFRA from providing a claim or defense to Title II public-accommodations claims.