Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Washington

You pose a very interesting question. Depending on where the discrimination takes place, there are different criteria that govern whether the discrimination is legal. Under federal, state,county, and municipal laws or ordinances different results may occur. There are two general "classes" of people that we discuss when dealing with discrimination cases. One is broadly known as "protected classes" and the other is known as "unprotected classes."

For example, race and religion are protected classes. If one is discriminated against due to their race or their religious background, that is a violation of their federal, state, and most municipal civil rights for which they may sue. On the other hand, examples of unprotected classes are smokers, people who drive foreign cars, wear blue jeans, etc. If they are discriminated against it is perfectly legal. This is why we regularly see bans on smoking and smokers as a class of people, of rules that prevent you from entering a restaurant without a proper coat and tie, etc.

Thus, if you want to discriminate against somebody because they wear blue shirts, that is perfectly permissible discrimination. If you want to discriminate against loud disruptive people, that is also perfectly permissible discrimination. (Think of public libraries.) If you want to discriminate against people who kill a Giant Pacific Octopus, that is probably a permissible form of discrimination. I say probably just in case there was another reason they did so. For example if it was part of a political protest, in the city of Seattle, you cannot discriminate against somebody based on their political beliefs. Thus in Seattle, that would be illegal. However, in Washington state outside Seattle where political views are not granted protected class status, this would be perfectly permissible discrimination. On the other hand, if someone killed an This is due to a Seattle city ordinance. On the other hand, the killed a Giant Pacific Octopus for religious reasons, to discriminate on that basis would be illegal under federal law, and thus make it illegal anywhere in the country.

This is why you have to look at who is being discriminated against, why they are being discriminated against, and where are they being discriminated against, meaning what location that the discrimination occurred. Let me give you another example. In Washington state it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation. However that is not something that is illegal under federal law. So if I own a home in Washington where discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal and I have another home in another Alabama, where I can discriminate on that basis, I cannot discriminate in Washington on that basis, but I can in Alabama. On the other hand, if I discriminate against someone based on race, no matter where in the country I am located, that will always be illegal because federal law applies everywhere in the United States.

Please know that this is merely an introduction to the issue, and if you are truly interested in pursuing this issue, I suggest you hire a civil rights attorney who is local to you or that you go to your closest local law library and asked the librarian to show you books about civil rights and discrimination law.

Best of luck,