Help me out here guys

submitted by Horror-SwordfishI don't get how flairs work from self.LGBDropTheT

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[–]HelloMomo 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Legal to discriminate on the basis of same-sex attraction: housing, workplace

People mention this from time to time, and I always wonder... if that was illegal, and then homophobic landlords were forced to have gay/bi tenants, would that actually be a good situation for anyone? If the landlord really feels that strongly about it, wouldn't it be better for the tenants to just live somewhere else?

[–]reluctant_commenter 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Bottom line, housing is a need, not a superficial desire. If a baker wants to refuse to bake a cake for a gay couple, that sucks but it's not like it's going to threaten their survival. However, in a context where the vast majority of opportunities to rent are controlled by private landlords, if it's legal in a state to discriminate against same-sex couples then those couples could suffer a real threat to their ability to live independently.

(Personally, I think it's kind of fucked up that renting is a for-profit industry, period, the same way that healthcare in the US is.)

[–]HelloMomo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I guess I just find it hard to imagine that there are many landlords like that. In the field of capitalism, the fact that someone has money and is willing to pay usually outweighs personal moral quandaries. In order for this issue to actually hurt people's ability to live in an area, it would have to be a majority of landlords doing this, not just one or two. Like, if homophobia was more powerful than capitalism? I could respect that after some fashion. But I don't think that's the world we live in. While I know personal incredulity is not a real argument, that just seems unlikely to me.

[–]reluctant_commenter 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In order for this issue to actually hurt people's ability to live in an area, it would have to be a majority of landlords doing this, not just one or two.

I think in certain regions, that actually may be the case. If we're averaging over the entire US, probably not; but in certain counties or states, yeah, I do believe it could make a difference. And even if it's rare for an area to have zero landlords willing to take a same-sex couple as renters, having like half or even a quarter or 10% of landlords in an area being like that would still lead to that couple expending more energy than an opposite-sex couple just to find housing.

While I know personal incredulity is not a real argument, that just seems unlikely to me.

Honestly, it would be ideal to have some data on the extent of the issue but I haven't done enough reading about this area to know. If I get a chance, I'll look into it.