4.__Unlawful education discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.__It is unlawful education discrimination in violation of this Act, on the basis of sexual orientation, to:

A.__Exclude a person from participation in, deny a person the benefits of or subject a person to discrimination in any academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training or other program or activity;

B.__Deny a person equal opportunity in athletic programs;

C.__Apply any rule concerning the actual or potential family or marital status of a person or to exclude any person from any program or activity because of their sexual orientation;

D.__Deny admission to the institution or program or to fail to provide equal access to any information about an institution or program through recruitment; or

E.__Deny financial assistance availability and opportunity.

The provisions in this subsection relating to sexual orientation do not apply to any education facility owned, controlled or operated by a bona fide religious corporation, association or society.

Sec. 22. 5 MRSA §4612, sub-§4, ķA, as amended by PL 1993, c. 303, §2, is further amended to read:

A. If the commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that unlawful discrimination has occurred, and further believes that irreparable injury or great inconvenience will be caused the victim of such discrimination or to members of a racial, color, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religious, or nationality group or age group if relief is not immediately granted, or if conciliation efforts under subsection 3 have not succeeded, the commission may file in the Superior Court a civil action seeking such relief as is appropriate, including temporary restraining orders.

SUMMARY

This bill forbids the denial of rights in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and education opportunity to individuals based on their sexual orientation.