SB 710 Summary

• Adds sexual orientation and gender identity or expression as protected classes in Florida's Civil Rights Act, alongside existing protections for race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, and marital status.

• Replaces the term "handicap" with "disability" throughout the statute and adopts the Americans with Disabilities Act definition of disability, including physical and mental impairments that substantially limit major life activities.

• Extends discrimination protections to employment, housing, public accommodations, public lodging and food service establishments, real estate transactions, and club memberships.

• Establishes that impairments determined unlawful under the chapter count as disabilities regardless of severity, and specifies that transitory or minor impairments (6 months or less) are not disabilities.

• Effective July 1, 2013; titled the "Competitive Workforce Act."