The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday, March 9, issued a rule clarifying that the prohibition against sex discrimination under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The agency’s non-discrimination protections also apply to actual or perceived non-conformity to sex- and gender-based stereotypes.
The clarification won applause from LGBTQ advocates, including Karen Loewy, senior counsel and seniors strategist for Lambda Legal. “While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau previously had a track record of reading the ECOA’s sex discrimination protections to apply to LGBTQ people, this explicit interpretive rule renews and formalizes that commitment,” Loewy