ABSTRACT
The invidious meanings of adverse discrimination become readily apparent in the legal realm, where people have created and enforce laws both to uphold and to challenge discrimination. Legally, discrimination can be of two forms. One is "de jure," meaning mandated by law; the other is "de facto," without legal basis but sanctioned by custom or practice. Examples of de jure discrimination include Jim Crow laws, now overturned, that denied African Americans access to facilities and services used by white Americans (14, pp. 57-111) and current laws prohibiting gay and lesbian marriage (15). By contrast, underrepresentation of people of color and white women in clinical trials constitutes a form of de facto discrimination (16-18).
