Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal for hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and entertainment venues to refuse or downgrade service because of a customer’s race, color, religion, or national origin. President Lyndon Johnson signed the law on July 2, 1964, and it applies to private businesses that serve the public and either affect interstate commerce or discriminate under the backing of state law.1National Archives. Civil Rights Act (1964) If a covered business breaks the rule, the remedy is a court order telling it to stop. The statute does not give victims money damages.
Which Businesses Are Covered
The statute names four categories of establishments, and a business falls under Title II only if it fits one of them.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a – Prohibition Against Discrimination or Segregation in Places of Public Accommodation
- Hotels, motels, inns, and other places providing lodging to transient guests.
- Restaurants, cafeterias, lunch counters, and any establishment principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises. Gas stations are grouped into this same subsection, a point often missed because the law is usually associated with sit-down dining.
- Movie theaters, concert halls, sports arenas, stadiums, and other places of entertainment.
- Any establishment physically located inside a covered business, or that contains a covered business inside it, if it holds itself out as serving that business’s patrons. A gift shop in a hotel lobby or a food vendor inside a covered arena is reached this way.
Retail stores, banks, medical offices, gyms, and schools are not on this list. Discrimination at those businesses is addressed through other laws, not Title II.
The Interstate Commerce Hook
A business is covered only if its operations affect interstate commerce or if the discrimination is required by state action. For lodging, that test is essentially automatic because hotel guests cross state lines. For restaurants and gas stations, the test is met if the business serves interstate travelers or if a substantial portion of the food or goods it sells has moved across state lines. That sweeps in nearly every restaurant and gas station in the country, since almost all of them stock products sourced from out of state.
State action is a separate route to coverage. Anyone acting under color of state law, such as an official enforcing a local segregation ordinance, violates the Act regardless of whether the business itself would meet the commerce test.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a-1 – Prohibition Against Discrimination or Segregation Required by State Action
Who Is Protected
Title II protects people from discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a – Prohibition Against Discrimination or Segregation in Places of Public Accommodation A covered business cannot refuse entry, deny service, provide inferior service, impose segregated seating, or otherwise treat a customer unequally on those grounds. It does not matter whether the discrimination reflects the owner’s views, other customers’ preferences, or a neutral-sounding policy that screens out a particular group in practice.
What Title II Does Not Cover
Sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and age are not in the statute. Sex was added to Title VII, the employment title, on the House floor, but that amendment did not reach Title II, and Congress has never closed the gap.4National Archives. Womens Rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The proposed Equality Act, reintroduced as H.R. 15 in April 2025, would add sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expand the list of covered establishments, but that bill remains pending.5U.S. Congress. HR 15 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) – Equality Act
If your situation involves one of those characteristics, other laws may apply. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers disability discrimination at twelve categories of businesses, a much broader list than Title II’s four, including retail stores, banks, medical offices, gyms, and schools.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 12181 – Definitions Most states also have public accommodation laws that go beyond the federal floor. California, for example, covers sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, and marital status, among others. Many other states include some combination of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
Exemptions
Two categories of establishments fall outside Title II, and both are narrower than they sound.
Private Clubs
A private club or other establishment “not in fact open to the public” is exempt.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a – Prohibition Against Discrimination or Segregation in Places of Public Accommodation The label alone does not do the work. Courts generally look for genuine selectivity in admitting members, meaningful member control, a nonprofit structure, and a social or recreational rather than commercial purpose. A “club” that advertises to the general public, charges a nominal fee anyone can pay, or functions as a commercial business loses the exemption and is treated as a public accommodation.
A legitimately private club also loses the exemption to the extent it opens its facilities to customers of a covered establishment. A private golf club that opens its restaurant to guests of the hotel next door subjects that restaurant to Title II for those interactions.
The Mrs. Murphy Exemption
Small owner-occupied lodging is carved out of the lodging category. If a building has five or fewer rooms for rent and the owner actually lives in the building, the establishment is not covered.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a – Prohibition Against Discrimination or Segregation in Places of Public Accommodation The classic case is a homeowner renting spare bedrooms. The exemption does not apply if the owner lives elsewhere, even when the building is small. Short-term rental hosts who live in the building and rent five or fewer rooms may fall within this exemption too, though the Fair Housing Act and state laws use different tests and can still apply.
What You Can Do If a Business Discriminates
Title II is enforced through civil lawsuits, not criminal charges. There are two enforcement paths: a private suit by the person who was discriminated against, and a suit by the U.S. Attorney General.
Filing a Private Lawsuit
A person who has been discriminated against, or is about to be, can sue for injunctive relief, meaning a court order requiring the business to stop.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a-3 – Civil Actions for Injunctive Relief Title II does not authorize monetary damages or compensation for emotional distress. If money matters to your claim, you generally need to look to state law or another federal statute.
Before filing in federal court, check whether your state or locality has its own law prohibiting the same conduct and an agency authorized to enforce it. If it does, you must give that agency written notice and wait 30 days before filing your federal case.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000a-3 – Civil Actions for Injunctive Relief Skipping that step is one of the most common ways these cases get dismissed.
Where no state or local law applies, you can go directly to federal court. The court may then pause the case and refer it to the Community Relations Service, a federal mediation body, for up to 60 days to try to work out voluntary compliance, and can extend that period to a maximum of 120 days.9GovInfo. 42 USC 2000a-3 – Civil Actions for Injunctive Relief
Attorney’s Fees
A prevailing plaintiff can recover reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, and the court may appoint an attorney and waive filing fees when the circumstances justify it.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a-3 – Civil Actions for Injunctive Relief The Supreme Court held in Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises that a successful plaintiff should “ordinarily recover an attorney’s fee unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust.”10Legal Information Institute. Newman v Piggie Park Enterprises, 390 US 400 (1968) That standard matters because injunctive relief alone provides no financial incentive for attorneys to take these cases.
Enforcement by the Attorney General
The U.S. Attorney General can bring a civil action when there is reasonable cause to believe a person or group is engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to Title II rights.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000a-5 – Civil Actions by the Attorney General These suits target systemic conduct, such as a hotel chain with a company-wide policy of turning away guests of a particular race or a restaurant with a documented history of refusing service. The relief is the same injunction available to private plaintiffs, brought with federal resources behind it.