May 2024 - LGBTQ+ Protections

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Welcome Note

As we get ready for PRIDE month in June, we’d like to focus this month’s newsletter on how the Fair Housing Act is enforced to include LGBTQ+ protections. In 2020, the very important Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme Court case determined that there is no way to separate sexual orientation based discrimination from Sex based discrimination. Continue reading to learn how this plays out under the Fair Housing Act.

LGBTQ+ Protections

Did You Know…

  • In Summer 2020, Bostock v. Clayton County, an employment based discrimination case, stated that an employer who fires an employee based on behaviors, actions or traits they would not question in another employee based on that employee’s sex, such as allowing a woman to be in a relationship with a man but not allowing a man to be in a relationship with man, does so along lines of sex based discrimination. The employer is allowing the female employee to do something it is not allowing the male employee to do.

  • In January 2021, Executive Order 13988 continued from Bostock stating that under Bostock‘s reasoning, laws that prohibit sex discrimination — including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Fair Housing Act, and section 412 of the Immigration and Nationality Act will be enforced to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

  • In February 2021, HUD took action by establishing that all enforcement and investigative activities will now include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity based discrimination under sex based discrimination.

  • In 2022, Sex based discrimination complaints increased by 10%.

So What Does It All Mean?

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity based discrimination in housing is a violation of the Fair Housing Act and such complaints will be investigated by HUD or FHAP agencies.

  • However, while enforcement of the law changed, Congress did not rewrite the Fair Housing Act or make amendments to include Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. These protections fall under the pre-existing protected class of Sex.

  • So, many people are not aware of these protections, because the law itself does not specifically identify them.

What Can We Do?

  • Educate and inform! Imagine you can’t sleep because you think your landlord is discriminating against you. You’re searching the internet for your rights. But, because Fair Housing laws were not rewritten, you may not find what you are looking for. This is why it’s important to educate and inform everybody from friends and family to corporate real estate agencies about the enforcement of LGBTQ+ rights in housing.

  • File Complaints. Now that this option is available, it needs to occur. Filing a complaint leads to investigations and penalties for discrimination. The most common term of a negotiation or civil penalty is that the landlord or housing provider must go through Fair Housing training. This helps to prevent discrimination in the future!

Community Outreach

Upcoming Outreach Events

June 4 - Apartment Association of Orlando - Orange County

June 5 - Compassionate St. Augustine/Good Trouble - St. Johns County

June 12 - Pierson Food Drive - Volusia County

June 17- Belfor Property Restoration Training - Orange County

June 21 - Chiefland Mobile Food Pantry - Levy County

June 27 - Daytona State College Community Event - Volusia County

What We’ve Been Up To

Learn to Read

We are always so grateful when we get a chance to go back to one of our most prized partners Learn to Read of St. John’s County. What a treat it was to deliver a presentation on Fair Housing to 13 Adult Language Learners representing 9 different countries and 4 languages in one room! Via a variety of activities and interactive lessons, attendees not only learned about their rights, but got to practice their English skills as well.

Family Life Center - An important focus of our project is to connect with as many Domestic Violence and Women’s Safety advocate organizations as we can. Our project manager, Joe Cordova was invited to present about Fair Housing and VAWA protections to the staff at Family Life Center in Flagler County, to assist their advocacy and connect their client to legal services.

HOPE CommUnity Center - Our project attorney Erika Recek delivered a unique presentation to participants of the Adelante Caminantes program at HOPE CommUnity Center in Apopka. This group of young immigrants were presented with their rights and protections in regards to housing and discrimination. The presentation was in Spanish and included a lot of discussion with 30+ individuals in attendance.

Equal Justice Work Community Lawyering - As an Equal Justice Works alum, project manager Joe Cordova is always excited to present to his class of summer interns. This year, 130+ summer interns from across the country logged in and attended this presentation, which focused on Environmental Justice, Fair Housing, and the community lawyering approach to progress.

UF Healthy Families - Our Outreach Coordinator, Pia Molina, presented virtually to the staff at UF Healthy Families this month. This presentation came about after Pia presented to a larger group back in March that one of the Healthy Families staff members attended.  It is always amazing how connections get made during this work and we look forward to continue working together. 

Volusia County Migrant Education

Pia presented to the parents staff part of the Volusia County Migrant Education program. It was a full room full of great information and good food being passed around. We are thankful for connections that allow us to reach migrant workers in Florida.

Children Beyond our Borders Health Fair

We got the chance to participate in the quarterly health fair put on by Children Beyond our Borders in Gainesville. The health fair was an awesome collaboration between many community partners to bring health access to families in the area. It was great to be part of this community event with our information.

Brevard County Affordable Housing Summit

What an event! Over 200 community members attended this full-day conference including mayors and representatives from Palm Bay, City of Cocoa, Melbourne and Brevard County. We were thrilled to be given “Back By Popular Demand” status and deliver a Fair Housing presentation for the second year in a row.

2024 Fair Housing Boot Camp -  This month we wrapped up our 6-week virtual Fair Housing boot camp. During our boot camp we went in depth on Fair Housing basics, Disability protections, LGBTQ+ Fair Housing Rights, Fair Housing for immigrants, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Fair Housing for Survivors of Domestic Violence, and familial status protections. Each session allowed for participants to understand the nuanced ways in which the Fair Housing Act works. Participants had excellent questions and scenarios we all benefited from talking through. It was a full Florida Legal Services effort and we couldn’t have done it without Director of Statewide Training, Alexis Alvarez Bartholomew. Thank you to everyone who attended and participated. You can find the recorded presentations on the FLS Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@floridalegalservices8366

Recent Department of Justice Accomplishments

  • On May 2, 2024, the court entered a consent order in United States v. Leaf Property Investments, LLC (E.D. Wis.).  The complaint, which was filed on September 9, 2022, alleged that Dennis Parker, the on-site manager of a 19-unit rooming house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, violated the Fair Housing Act by harassing a male tenant because of the tenant’s sex, including the tenant’s sexual orientation, and because of the tenant’s disability. The complaint alleges that Defendant Parker engaged in verbal and virtual harassment, as well as one instance of punching the tenant in the groin and threatening to evict him in retaliation for reporting the harassment to the police. The complaint also named as defendants Leaf Property Investments, LLC and Sam Leaf (the “Leaf defendants”), who own the property where the harassment occurred.  The case was referred to the Division after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received a complaint from the complaint, conducted an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination, and the tenant elected to have the matter litigated in federal court.   The consent order requires defendants to pay the tenant $40,000 in damages, prohibits Dennis Parker from managing residential properties and from contacting the tenant, requires the Leaf defendants to adopt a nondiscrimination policy, and requires the Leaf defendants to undergo fair housing training.  

 

The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) protects you from discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. This applies to renting, buying, mortgages, appraisals, insurance, and looking for a place to live.

 
 

IF YOU THINK YOU’VE BEEN THE VICTIM OF HOUSING DISCRIMINATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT:
407-801- 4224
850-680-1729 (Spanish)
fairhousing@floridalegal.org
www.floridalegal.org/fairhousing

The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Government.

 
Joseph Cordova