California and a coalition of other states on Monday sued the Trump administration over its efforts to roll back fair housing rules that prohibit certain types of discrimination by landlords, including against LGBTQ+ people.
California Lawyer. Gen. Rob Bonta said a rule change from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that threatens funding for states that offer housing protections for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people not explicitly covered by federal law is illegal, undermines state efforts to combat discrimination and would push vulnerable people onto the streets.
“In effect, the Trump administration is attempting to roll back civil rights housing enforcement at the federal level and pressure states to weaken their own protections as well,” Bonta said during a news conference Monday. “That's not just bad policy, it's illegal.”
Representatives from HUD and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The federal Fair Housing Act explicitly prohibits discrimination based on seven traits: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Under rules established during the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has for years interpreted the law as prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Many states, including California, have also adopted laws that explicitly prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups not mentioned in federal law, and California also prohibits discrimination based on marital status, ancestry, source of income, and veteran or military status.
In September, HUD issued new guidance threatening to decertify state housing agencies — stripping them of their federal funding and their ability to investigate discrimination claims — if they provide anti-discrimination protections other than those detailed in the Fair Housing Act. The guidance also prohibited state agencies from using federal funds to “promote gender ideology,” “fund or promote elective abortions” or promote illegal immigration, according to the lawsuit.
The guidance followed that of HUD Secretary Scott Turner, a former NFL player and Trump loyalist, who announced last year that HUD would no longer adhere to a 2016 Obama-era rule protecting transgender people from housing discrimination, which Turner said “linked HUD-funded housing programs, shelters and other facilities to far-left gender ideology.”
“We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission established by President Trump on January 20. [2025] when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government,” Turner said in a statement, referring to Trump's order calling on federal agencies across the government to rescind protections for transgender Americans.
“This means recognizing that there are only two sexes: male and female,” Turner said. “It means getting government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in his image.”
Among other things, the administration said that rules prohibiting discrimination against transgender people allowed “biological males to enter shelters intended for women affected by trauma, domestic abuse and violence.”
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups condemned the move, noting that transgender Americans face increased discrimination in a number of areas, including housing, and need protections. They also argued that HUD's new policies violate a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibits employment discrimination based on gender or gender identity.
Bonta said the Fair Housing Act “establishes a floor, not a ceiling, for protection against discrimination,” meaning states “have the authority to go further and protect more people,” as California has struggled to do.
He said HUD has supported the state's anti-discrimination work for decades through the Fair Housing Assistance Program, which provides funding to state and local agencies to investigate and enforce housing anti-discrimination laws. HUD's new guidance “threatens to undermine that system” by calling for an end to state protections not only for LGBTQ+ people, but also for military veterans, immigrants and women receiving abortions and other reproductive health services, she said.
“California families are already struggling to find housing they can afford, and the last thing they need is for the federal government to make it harder for them,” Bonta said. “At its core, this lawsuit seeks to protect a fundamental civil right: the right to rent, buy or live in housing without discrimination.”
Bonta said California interprets the Fair Housing Act's ban on sex discrimination as protecting LGBTQ+ people, but the Trump administration disagrees, making the state's more explicit protections important.
He said about $3 million in federal funds are currently at stake for California, and millions more in other states.
Illinois Attorney. Gen. Kwame Raoul, who is helping lead the lawsuit and spoke alongside Bonta on Monday, said states with strong anti-discrimination laws “will not back down and we will not give in to threats” from the Trump administration.
“These actions are part of a broader, ongoing pattern by this administration to subvert the legal protections our country has put in place to combat discrimination and tear down the hard-won progress we have made on civil rights,” Raoul said. “It is also just the latest page in the president's illegal playbook to use funds and programs created by Congress to try to force states to adopt Trump's preferred policies.”
The states allege that HUD's attack on state anti-discrimination policies comes after it reduced its own workforce and significantly reduced its ability to investigate housing discrimination complaints and enforce fair housing laws. They say the new guidance violates multiple federal laws, including laws governing federal spending and rule changes, and are asking the federal court to immediately strike down the guidance as illegal.
Bonta and Raoul are joined in the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
