Legal Definitions - sexual orientation

Sexual orientation refers to a person's enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people. This can include attraction to people of the opposite gender (heterosexuality), the same gender (homosexuality), or to people of more than one gender (bisexuality), among other orientations.

In many legal systems, sexual orientation is recognized as a protected characteristic, meaning that discrimination based on it is prohibited in areas like employment, housing, and public services. It can also be a factor in determining whether a crime is considered a hate crime.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of sexual orientation:

• Imagine a highly qualified candidate, Sarah, applies for a management position. During the interview, she casually mentions her wife. A few days later, she receives a rejection letter, despite having superior qualifications compared to the person who was hired. If evidence suggests the hiring manager decided against Sarah specifically because she is attracted to and married to another woman, this would be a case of alleged employment discrimination based on her sexual orientation.

• Consider a situation where a landlord advertises an apartment for rent. When a prospective tenant, Mark, expresses interest and mentions he plans to live there with his boyfriend, the landlord suddenly claims the apartment is no longer available, even though it was listed moments before. If Mark can demonstrate that the landlord's refusal was directly due to his attraction to another man, this would illustrate housing discrimination based on his sexual orientation.

• Suppose David is walking down the street and is verbally harassed and physically assaulted by a group of individuals who use derogatory slurs specifically targeting gay people. The attackers explicitly state their actions are because they perceive David to be gay. In this scenario, David's actual or perceived sexual orientation is the motivating factor behind the crime, which could lead to it being prosecuted as a hate crime.