The federal law (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended) prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, and advertising of housing. The protected classes are race, color, religion, and national origin (1968), sex (1974), and familial status and disability (1988). Limited exemptions exist for certain owner-occupied small dwellings and single-family homes sold without a broker, but never for race (barred separately and absolutely by the 1866 Act), never for discriminatory advertising, and never when a broker is used.