For the purposes of this article, this following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
(a) "Blindness" means, for the purpose of this article, a person whose central visual acuity does not exceed twenty/two hundred in the better eye with correcting lenses, or whose visual acuity is greater than twenty/two hundred but is occasioned by a limitation in the field of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than twenty degrees.
(b) "Bona fide purchaser" means any occupant, prospective occupant, lessee, prospective lessee, buyer or prospective buyer, borrower or prospective borrower, renter or prospective renter, who, in good faith, acts to provide himself or his family with adequate housing accommodations or real property.
(c) "Commission" means the Human Rights Commission of the City of South Charleston.
(d) "Complainant" means one or more individuals, partnerships, organizations and any other organized groups of persons charging that they have been aggrieved by discriminatory practices.
(e) "Discriminate" means to exclude from or fail to extend to a person equal opportunities because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, blindness or handicap; to separate or segregate.
(f) "Employee" does not mean an individual employed by his parents, spouse or child, or in the domestic service of any person.
(g) "Employer" means any person employing twelve or more persons within the City; provided, that such terms shall not be taken, understood or construed to include a private club, or the City, its boards or commissions.
(h) "Employment agency" means any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure, recruit, refer or place employees. A newspaper engaged in the activity of advertising in the formal course of its business shall not be deemed to be an employment agency.
(i) "Handicap" means any physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of an individuals' major life activities.
(j) "Housing accommodations" means any building or portion thereof within the City which is used or intended for use as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons, but does not include the rental of one, two, three or four rooms in a single family private dwelling in which the owner or members of his family reside.
(k) "Labor organization" means any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or for dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment.
(l) "Owner" means the owner, lessee, sublessee, assignee, manager, agent or other person, firm or corporation having the right to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation or real property within the City or any agent of any of these.
(m) "Person" means one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, labor organizations, cooperatives, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and other organized groups of persons.
(n) "Place of public accommodations" means any establishment or person, as defined herein, including the City and any of its affiliate boards or commissions or any political or civil subdivision thereof, which offers its services, goods, facilities or accommodations to the general public, but shall not include any accommodations which are in their nature private.
(o) "Purchaser" means any occupant, prospective occupant, lessee, prospective lessee, renter, prospective renter, buyer or prospective buyer.
(p) "Real estate broker" means a person, firm or corporation who, for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, or by reason of a promise or reasonable expectation thereof, lists for sale, sells, exchanges, buys or rents, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale, exchange, purchase or rental of real property or housing accommodations or an interest therein; collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real property or housing accommodations; solicits for a prospective purchaser or assists or directs in the procuring of prospects or the negotiation or closing of any transaction which does or is contemplated to result in the sale, exchange, leasing, renting or auctioning of any real property or housing accommodations; negotiates, offers, attempts or agrees to negotiate a loan secured or to be secured by mortgage or other encumbrance upon or transfer of any real property or housing accommodations for others; or any person who, for pecuniary gain or expectation of pecuniary gain, conducts a private or public competitive sale of lands or any interest in lands. In the sale of lots, the term "real estate broker" shall also include any person, partnership, association or corporation employed by or on behalf of the owner of lots or other parcels of real property, at a stated salary, or upon a commission, or upon a salary and commission, or otherwise, to sell such real property, or any parts thereof, in lots or other parcels, and who shall sell or exchange, or offer or attempt or agree to negotiate the sale or exchange of any such lot or parcel of real property. A newspaper engaged in the activity of advertising in the normal course of its business shall not be deemed to be a real estate broker.
(q) "Real estate salesman" means any person who, for compensation, valuable consideration or commission, or other thing of value or by reason of a promise or reasonable expectation thereof is employed by and operates under the supervision of a real estate broker to sell or offer to sell, buy or offer to buy or negotiate the purchase, sale or exchange of real property or housing accommodations; to offer or attempt to negotiate a loan secured or to be secured by a mortgage or other encumbrances upon or transfer of real property or housing accommodations; to lease or rent, or offer to lease or rent any real property or housing accommodations for others; to collect rents for the use of real property or housing accommodations; or to solicit for prospective purchasers or lessees of real property or housing accommodations; or who is employed by a licensed real estate broker to sell or offer to sell lots or other parcels of real property or housing accommodations, at a stated salary, or upon a commission, or upon a salary and commission, or otherwise to sell real property, or any parts thereof, in lots or other parcels.
(r) "Real property" includes real estate, lands, leaseholds, commercial or industrial buildings and any vacant land offered for sale or rent on which the construction of a housing accommodation, commercial or industrial building is intended, and any land operated as a trailer camp or rented or leased for the use, parking or storage of mobile homes or house trailers.
(s) "Rooming house" means a house or building where there are one or more bedrooms which the proprietor can spare for the purpose of giving lodgings to such persons as he chooses to receive.
(t) “Sex” means the distinctions between persons of different sexes or genders. “Because of sex” includes but is not limited to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. “Sex” includes gender identity, meaning a person’s actual or perceived personal sense of having a particular gender, or the expression of the same, which may or may not conform with the person’s assigned gender at birth, such as being cisgender, transgender, or gender nonbinary. “Sex” also includes sexual orientation, meaning a person’s actual or perceived identity in relation to the sex or gender of persons to whom the person is attracted, or in whom the person is romantically interested, and includes but is not limited to actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
(Ord. 1451 Passed 5-3-84; Ord. 2309. Passed 7-15-21.)