Transgender Housing Discrimination
April 14th, 2010 by Babe
Not that you didn’t know it, but there is nothing in federal law that prohibits refusing to rent or sell to those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., ban anti-gay housing discrimination, of which 12 and D.C. also prohibit housing bias based on gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign. That means that in more than half the nation LGBT Americans have zero protection from severely misguided landlords, real estate agents or homeowners.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force joined forces in 2009 with the National Center for Transgender Equality to conduct a survey of nearly 6,500 transgender people.
- 11% of those surveyed reported having been evicted because of their gender identity
- 19% said they’d become homeless
- only 32% of transgender Americans own their own home (68% of Americans own their own home)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is preparing to launch a first-of-its-kind national investigation of housing discrimination against LGBT Americans. At hud.gov, the department is collecting suggestions about smart ways to proceed.
Want to put down roots for six months or a lifetime? Want someplace to call “home sweet home”? Housing discrimination shouldn’t be allowed to get in the way. It’s wrong. And it ought to be illegal.
Deb Price of the Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues.
It’s a great article…….read it here
Technorati Tags: transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, LGBT, transgender, evicted, gender identity, Americans
Posted in Making A Difference, Pissed Off!