New Study: LGBT people, people of color and women use housing non-discrimination laws at similar rates
Posted by Melanie Nathan, Feb 09, 2016.
LGBT people file housing discrimination complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity as frequently as people of color and women file complaints based on race and sex, according to a new analysis by Christy Mallory, senior counsel, and Brad Sears, executive director, at the Williams Institute.
One to five complaints are filed each year for every 100,000 LGBT adults, adults of color and women. Passing non-discrimination laws that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity would not overwhelm government agencies.
The study examined complaints filed with state enforcement agencies based on sexual orientation or gender identity, race, and sex and adjusted them by the number of adults most likely to experience each type of discrimination – LGBT people, people of color, and women.
Data on discrimination complaints were collected from 18 of the 22 states that prohibited housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The states included in this study were California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
READ REPORT
How are these laws enforced? How is discrimination identified? Quotas? Do landlords now need to be on the edge in the presence of LGBT, afraid they’ll get sued if they choose a different tenant?
This sounds more like LGBT Supremacy than equality.
This is not an enforcement issue. These are not criminal laws. We are talking about civil lawsuits here. Its up to an individual to sue if they have been discriminated against. Often Fair Housing organizations – many of whom have HUD grants – help individuals or groups to sue. Its not LGBT supremacy at all. Let me give you an example. When I was VP on Board of Fair Housing Marin, we ran a voice audit in Marin County. We have 10 people call a landlord with Latina accents and they were all told that the apartment was taken. Ten seconds later we had an American caucasion accent call and that perosn was told to come in and see apartment and fill out an application. If you do an audit – of stereotypes – like two women showing up as a married coupe and get told the apartment is taken – and then a straight couple shows up and they are told the apartment is available. THAT is clear discrimination. We have been able to prove patterns at same places. This is real and hardly LGBT Supremacy. How homophobic of you to even suggest that a group which clearly suffers discrimination in housing – hence many new laws- is supreme!