554.01. Definitions
   (a)   "Business establishment" means any entity, however organized, which furnishes goods or services to the general public. An otherwise qualifying establishment which has membership requirements is considered to furnish services to the general public if its membership requirements consist only of the payment of fees or consist of requirements under which a substantial portion of the residents of this City could qualify.
   (b)   "Conversion therapy" has the same meaning as sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, which is defined herein.
   (c)   "Discriminate", "discriminates" or discrimination" means any distinction or difference in treatment because of, or motivated by, even if not solely because of, a protected class.
   (d)   "Employee" means any person hired or employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages, compensation and/or profit or as a volunteer except those engaged in domestic service, personal service or an employee of an organized religious congregation or an employee of an organization or institution limited to members of a single religious faith.
   (e)   "Employer" means any person, one or more individuals, a partnership, association or corporation hiring or employing another in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages, compensation and/or profit or as a volunteer except as provided in Section 554.02(b).
   (f)   "Employment agency" means any person, company, partnership, association or corporation which undertakes with or without compensation to procure opportunities to work, or to procure, recruit, refer or place employees.
   (g)   "Financial institution" means any person, partnership, association or corporation engaged in the business of lending money or guaranteeing loans on real property.
   (h)   "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender- related identity, appearance, expression or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth.
   (i)   "Labor organization" means any organization which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers on behalf of an employee concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment or of mutual aid or protection in connection with employment.
   (j)   "Mental health provider" means an individual who is licensed, certified or registered under the laws of the State of Ohio to provide, to an individual or a group, mental health services, including but not limited to, the assessment or improvement of mental, emotional, psychiatric, psychological, or psychosocial adjustment or functioning, regardless of whether there is a diagnosable, pre-existing disorder or disease. Mental health professionals include, but are not limited to, physicians specializing in the practice of psychiatry, psychologists, marriage and family therapies, licensed clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, behavioral clinicians or therapists, nurses, or any other person offering such mental health services.
   (k)   "Person selling real property" means any person, corporation, partnership, association or trustee who sells real property, leases or rents real property, or, who as agent for another, performs any of the functions listed herein.
   (l)   "Places of public accommodation" means any inn, restaurant, eating house, barbershop, public conveyance by air, land, or water, theater, store, or other place for the sale of merchandise, or any other place for the sale of merchandise, or any other place of public accommodation or amusement where the accommodation, advantages, facilities, or privileges thereof are available to the public.
   (m)   "Purchaser of real property" means any occupant, prospective occupant, lessee, prospective lessee, buyer or prospective buyer of any real property.
   (n)   "Reparative therapy" has the same meaning as sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, which is defined herein.
   (o)   "Sexual orientation" means an inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people.
   (p)   "Sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts" means any practices by mental health providers that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.
   (q)   "Sexual orientation change efforts" does not include counseling that provides support and assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of a person or facilitates a person's coping, social support, and development, including sexual orientation-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change sexual orientation or gender identity.
   (r)   "Source of income" means any lawful income or payment, including but not limited to wages accruing from any lawful occupation; federal, state or local payments, including Section 8 housing assistance payments or any other rent subsidy or rent assistance program; court ordered payments; payments received as gifts, bequests, annuities or life insurance policies; or social security.
   (s)   "Protected Class" means race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, familial status, disability, age, source of income, military status, immigration status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
(Ord. 498-18/490-20. Passed 12-15-20.)