As used in this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the content, the following terms shall have the following meanings. Words importing the masculine extend and shall be applied to the feminine and neuter genders.
(a) "Commission" means the City Human Relations Commission.
(b) "Discriminate" or "discrimination" means any difference in treatment in the sale, lease, rental or financing of housing units or housing accommodations because of race, color, handicap or disability, familial status, religion, creed, ancestry, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identification or the use of a guide or support animal because of the handicap of the user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals.
(c) "Housing unit" means a single room or suite of rooms, or an apartment or dwelling, occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by any person or a family, or a parcel of real property or a lot available for the construction of a housing unit.
(d) "Lending institution" means any person, as defined in this article, regularly engaged in the business of lending money or guaranteeing loans.
(e) "Owner" includes the lessee, sub-lessee, assignee, managing agent or other person having the right of ownership or possession, or the right to sell, rent or lease any housing unit which is part of a housing accommodation or to furnish services in connection therewith.
(f) "Person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers. It also includes, but is not limited to, any owner, lessor, assignor, builder, manager, broker, salesman, agent, employee, independent contractor, lending institution and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and all political subdivisions, authorities, boards and commissions thereof.
(g) "Real estate broker" means any natural person, partnership, association or corporation who, for a fee or other valuable consideration, or other purposes, sells, purchases, exchanges or rents, or negotiates or offers or attempts to negotiate, the sale, purchase, exchange or rental of the real property of another, or holds himself out as engaged in the business of selling, purchasing, exchanging or renting the real property of another, or collects rental for the use of the real property of another or attempts to secure the listing for sale or rental of a housing unit by representing that a change has occurred or will or may occur with respect to the racial, religious, ethnic, handicap or disability, or familial status composition of the street, block, neighborhood or area in which such housing accommodation is located.
(h) "Real estate sales person or agent" means any person employed by a real estate broker to perform, or to assist in the performance of, any or all of the functions of a real estate broker, or providing any services in connection therewith.
(i) "Sexual orientation" means male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality, by preference, practice or as perceived by others.
(j) "Gender identification" means one's personal sense of their gender. For transgender people, their birth-assigned sex and their own sense of gender identity do not match. (Ord. 22-2015. Passed 10-6-15.)