Lambda Legal Hails Biden Administration for Explicitly Extending Fair Housing Protections to LGBTQ Individuals

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today issued guidance explicitly extending the protections of the Fair Housing Act to LGBTQ individuals. Karen Loewy, Senior Counsel and Seniors Strategist at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement:

“Lambda Legal applauds this step by the Biden Administration to make the promise of equal housing opportunity real for LGBTQ people across the country. As our housing work has demonstrated and the Bostock decision confirmed, the harassment and discrimination that LGBTQ people face in housing are forms of sex discrimination that federal law will not tolerate. These actions by HUD will both prevent future discrimination and ensure that those who have experienced discrimination have a clear avenue for relief.”

From today’s announcement:

“HUD has now determined that the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in housing likewise includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Accordingly, and consistent with President Biden's Executive Order, HUD will enforce the Fair Housing Act to prevent and combat such discrimination.”

Read today’s announcement from HUD here.

In one of his first actions upon taking office, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., issued the Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, confirming antidiscrimination protections for all LGBTQ employees and directing all federal agencies to apply the historic Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination wherever federal law prohibits sex discrimination, including in education, housing, credit and healthcare.

For Lambda Legal’s work on housing and LGBTQ rights, see Smith v. Avanti and Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community.