Gay Rights in the U.S. -- Housing Discrimination

In my last piece on gay rights, I wrote about employment discrimination, and how the lack of laws against it are forcing many LGBTs to remain closeted in order to earn a living. But another major area of discrimination against them can threaten them even having a place to live: housing discrimination.

Housing discrimination is largely thought about in terms of race, and in many minds thought of as a thing of the past. But statistics actually show that even with the Fair Housing Act in place, even as far as we've come in matters of race, there are still plenty of cases of housing discrimination -- over 4 million each year, as estimated by the National Fair Housing Alliance. And while statistics of discrimination against LGBTs have not been as widely researched, some state based studies have suggested that as many as thirty percent of same-sex couples were treated negatively when attempting to buy or rent property.

Housing discrimination takes many forms. Refusal to even show properties to a same-sex couple. Less favorable interest rates, or higher monthly rents. Reneging on plans to sell property. Harassment by landlords. And all of this discrimination is affecting people literally where they live.

There are 17 states which have enacted their own laws to stop housing discrimination against LGBTs (and a few more that are close, but that have left out the transgendered). As with employment discrimination, however, there is no federal law against such discrimination.

But also as with employment discrimination, there are certain things that a president can do while Congress is dragging its feet. The Housing and Urban Development program (HUD) announced earlier this year that funding by the program will be subject to compliance with new anti-discrimination rules. The program now prohibits owners and operators of federally-funded housing (and lenders offering federally-insured mortgages) from discriminating based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Other language has been tweaked to clarify that any use of the term "family" in HUD legal language includes LGBT families.

Just as ENDA is a pending piece of legislation designed to deal with LGBT employment discrimination, there is an effort by some in Congress to update the language of the 1968 Fair Housing Act to include LGBTs. Like ENDA, the legislation is not currently going anywhere.

Some people, taking the first tiny step toward tolerance, will say that they have no problem with gay people as long as they keep it in the privacy of their own homes. But there need to be stronger laws to ensure that they'll have homes to be private in.