Courts Say It Is Illegal to Say You Want a Gay Roomate on Roomates.com
The nutty 9th has done it again. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that indicating your preference for a straight or gay roommate or if you want a male or female roommate is discrimination according to fair housing laws. Just the kind of thing social conservatives love to hear to point out how anti-discrimination legislation can cause other problems. Not to mention the fact that if I ever wanted a roommate I ought to have the right to indicate who I’d be willing to rent a place with. And I’d think an uptight straight guy would like to know the same. This isn’t discrimination, it’s simply a tool to whittle down the huge list of prospective roomates to find someone you feel comfortable sharing with. I’m hoping that Log Cabin Republicans will jump on this to point out the absurdity of the situation to avoid a backlash against the reasonable laws that prevent a landlord from denying to rent you an apartment (with a gay or staright roommate) just because you are gay or lesbian.
Read the story for yourself: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-roommates4apr04,1,6116852.story
I do not think that the LA Times actually knows how to read Court decisions. While it is true that the sexual orieitation question was part of the fact pattern, the ruling itself from the Court was not based on State law but the Federal Housing Act, a part of the 1968 Civil Rights Act. According to the decision (and not the LA Times), one cannot asked questions on one’s protected status but since “sexual orientation” has not been added to at he Federal Housing Act, it seems to me that it is OK for Roommates.com to ask if your are “homosexual but not the gender of the homosexuality. Well it is the 9th Circuit : )
Comment by Kevin Norte — April 15, 2008 @ 4:41 am