What Would You Do?

Every day we run the risk of being discriminated against; whether employment discrimination, or in housing, or public accommodation there is always that possibility.

Elderly lesbian couple rejected from retirement community because they are married
Pink News
By Nick Duffy
26th July 2018

An elderly lesbian couple who have been together for 40 years were refused a place together in a retirement community because they are in a same-sex marriage.

The couple visited the community in July 2016 and had even put down a a $2,000 deposit for a home, when their application was rejected because they are married.

They were told: “Your request to share a single unit does not fall within the categories permitted by the long-standing policy of Friendship Village Sunset Hills.”

The owners cited its cohabitation policy, which only permits opposite-sex married couples under the belief that marriage is the “the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible.”

Okay first strike, Missouri does not have a non-discrimination that covers sexual orientation. Second strike, the federal Fair Housing law doesn’t specially bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. Third strike, the current Department of Housing administration will not help with the case and might even come out in support of the retirement community saying that it was “religious freedom.”

The Huffington Post reported...

Still, legal experts told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Nance and Walsh could face a tough fight in court. Though Missouri’s Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, nationality and other classes, it does not protect from retaliation in places of public accommodation based on sexuality or gender identity. 

So it is going to be a long uphill battle with the deck stacked against us.

Suppose you want to buy a house and they told you that they don’t sell to trans people or lesbians and gays. What would you do?

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