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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStudy: Same-Sex Couples Suffer Discrimination in Rental Market
A national study released today confirms what many LGBT people have undoubtedly suspected: Same-sex couples experience discrimination in the rental housing market, even when business is conducted online.
In the first national study dealing with such discrimination in rental housing advertised on the Internet, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that same-sex couples received significantly fewer responses to emails about advertised units than heterosexual couples did. Gay male couples experienced more discrimination than lesbian couples, and treatment of same-sex couples overall was, unexpectedly, somewhat worse in states that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The study is based on nearly 7,000 test emails that were sent to housing providers in 50 metropolitan areas across the U.S., inquiring about the availability of an apartment advertised online, between June and October of 2011. For each unit advertised, researchers sent two emails, one from a same-sex couple and the other from a heterosexual couple, but otherwise identical. Unfavorable treatment was measured by whether the tester was told the unit was available, asked to contact the landlord, invited to the see the apartment, or received any response at all, noted a HUD press release.
As this study shows, we need to continue our efforts to ensure that everyone is treated the same when it comes to finding a home to call their own, regardless of their sexual orientation, HUD secretary Shaun Donovan said in the release. The U.S. Fair Housing Act does not address discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but HUD guidance recently issued on interpretation of the act treats gender nonconformity or sex stereotyping as sex discrimination and instructs the departments staff to inform individuals filing complaints about state and local agencies that have LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination laws. The department has also issued a rule that requires HUD-funded and HUD-insured housing providers and Federal Housing Administration-approved lenders to provide equal access without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status.
http://www.advocate.com/business/2013/06/18/study-same-sex-couples-suffer-discrimination-rental-market
I didn't need a study to tell me this, but at least it will help with the naysayers.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)Just extrapolating from my friends.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,311 posts).... selling after the condos were all fixed up and decorated and "the gays" moved out.
(my friend and I are both gay, for the record)
William769
(55,144 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,311 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)one_voice
(20,043 posts)my cousin (who is more like a brother to me) and his partner of forever, had a hard time finding a place down in Floriduh. They eventually found something. He's not crazy about the area, but it's a nice little house with a nice pool.
William769
(55,144 posts)Yes this is Florida, we found this great little Florida cottage just perfect for us and when we went to rent it the lady looked at me & David & said we don't rent to your kind and I shot back and said do you mean inteligent & not inbred? Needless to say we didn't get the cottage. We ended up staying in a extened stay hotel until we bought our home. I have never forgotten her (idi send her a invite to our house warming party, we never got a reply. What a shame. NOT!
mythology
(9,527 posts)That they will leave the gay there or something? Maybe I'm trying to assume logic where there isn't any.