[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4376 Introduced in House (IH)]

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. Watson, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. 
Quigley, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Sutton, Mr. Sherman, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Berkley, 
  Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California, 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. Lujan, 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom from Discrimination in 
Credit Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION ON ACCOUNT OF SEXUAL 
              ORIENTATION OR GENDER 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, religion, 
        national origin, sex or marital status,''; and
            (2) by inserting ``on the basis of race, color, religion, 
        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 following new 
        subsections:
    ``(f) The term `gender identity' means the gender-related identity, 
appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an 
individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex 
at birth.
    ``(g) The term `person' means a natural person, a corporation, 
government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, estate, 
partnership, cooperative, or association.
    ``(h) The term `sexual orientation' means homosexuality, 
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.''.
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