The Maine Human Rights Commission is bracing for the impacts of federal policy changes around sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.
Executive Director Kit Thomson Crossman said in Maine, the law remains the same and continues to offer protections.
But the commission has work sharing agreements with federal agencies, including Housing and Urban Development, which have changed their legal interpretations to no longer include protections for sexual orientation or gender identity. And so far, it's unclear what that will mean for the commission, Thomson Crossman said.
"It's unclear whether the commission will maintain its HUD contract," Thomson Crossman said. "I think it's probably unclear whether many agencies around the country would maintain their HUD contract, which would significantly impact the ability of those agencies to operate in a lot of cases, because they rely on that HUD funding."
HUD interpretation of fair housing law has changed between administrations in the past. But this year, Thomson Crossman said, HUD guidance has said if an agency covers more than the seven protected classes listed under federal law, the agency could lose a key certification that permits agencies to partner with HUD for investigations.
That contradicts federal regulations, Thomson Crossman said, which states that agencies can protect more groups than federal law.
In Maine, Thomson Crossman said its two federal agreements make up around a quarter of the commission's budget and would still be able to operate without those funds.
The commission's other work sharing agreement is with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Unlike HUD, it's much more unusual for the EEOC to change legal interpretations under a new administration.
This year, the EEOC said it would not give agencies credit for cases alleging discrimination based on gender identity — seemingly contradicting a 2020 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
"For the EEOC to say we're not going to give you credit for those cases at all is new and fairly shocking," Thomson Crossman said. "Frankly, it's not clear, we signed the work sharing agreement. I am anticipating a new contract. All of that stuff was supposed to happen in October. Obviously, the federal government has been shut down, so we haven't received any of that."
Thomson Crossman said the commission gets paid for those work sharing agreements in October, for the past years work. But it hasn't received those payments yet, because of the government shutdown.
