Public accommodations

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 defines public accommodations as a limited number of facilities which are open to the public. Examples include hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term "private".

Under United States federal law, public accommodations must be accessible to the handicapped and may not discriminate on the basis of "race, color, religion, or national origin." Private clubs were specifically exempted under federal law as well as religious organizations. Title II's definition of public accommodation is limited to "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests," and therefore is inapplicable to churches. Section 12187 of the ADA also exempts religious organizations from public accommodation laws, but religious organizations are encouraged to comply.

Various states in the United States, in a number of nonuniform laws, provide for nondiscrimination in public accommodation.

Federal legislation dealing with public accommodations include these:

Many states and their subdivisions prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation prior to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title II). As of 2015, 45 states have an anti-discrimination public accommodation law for nondisabled individuals. The laws all protect against discrimination based upon race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. There are 19 states that prohibit discrimination in public accommodation based upon age.

Several states also have protections for breastfeeding in public. In addition several states provide for non-discrimination in public accommodation when based upon sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Private clubs were exempted under federal law but not in many states' laws. For example, in interpreting a Minnesota law in their 1984 ruling Roberts v. United States Jaycees, the United States Supreme Court declared the previously all-male United States Junior Chamber, a chamber of commerce organization for persons between the ages of 18 and 36, to be a public accommodation, thus compelling it to admit women.

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