Civil actions: gender violence.

Existing law allows a person who has been subjected to gender violence to bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party and defines gender violence for this purpose as a crime of violence motivated by the gender of the victim or a physical intrusion or invasion of a sexual nature, as specified. The Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on a person's sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation, among others, and specifies that sex includes gender, which includes a person's gender identity and gender expression. This bill, for the purposes of the former provision, would specify that gender has the same meaning as in the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The bill would also allow a person who has been subject to sexual orientation violence, as defined, to bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party under provisions identical to those for gender violence.