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What does “home” mean to you?
I start off most fair housing continuing education courses with a similar question.
Why?
Because it is apparent that “home” is universal in that it means stability (sometimes including financial), safety, and community.
But what if a part of your identity — not the merits of your income or credit score; rather an innocuous, often random part of your being – was a hurdle to you having a place to call home?
This is not a stretch of the imagination for some. Did you know that 79% of those surveyed by Zillow have experienced unfair housing based simply on their sexual orientation or gender identity?
This and similar data speak to the need for sexual orientation and gender identity to continue to be legally protected fair housing classes. However, despite the data, shockingly their federal protections ended Inauguration Day 2025 at the federal level.
How did we get here?
Despite there being no federal statute, I have been proud that we, as Realtors, have been held to and voluntarily committed to a higher ethical code to ensure that fair housing extends to everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identification since 2010 and 2013, respectively.
However, our clients, neighbors, and other community members did not necessarily have to live by our code of ethics if they were in one of the 18 states or 4 territories that did not have any protections.
That was until 2021.
President Biden upped the ante and gave legal standing to housing discrimination not being permissible simply because of one’s gender identity or sexual orientation with Executive Order 13988 on January 20, 2021 (Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation).
Within weeks of that EO, HUD (the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development with one of its duties being to enforce fair housing) began to probe unfair housing that excluded based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
But sadly, today, I woke up in an America where we have lost those fair housing federal protections. Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order that rolled back 78 existing executive orders, including the “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation”.
As a fair housing educator, I have had real estate brokers not only share horror stories of clients being denied housing — not because of their credit or income but simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity — but of real estate agents and brokers themselves being told they were not welcomed in certain communities to live or sale in as intermediaries.
President Biden’s Executive Order 13988 helped to ensure that if unfair housing tried to rear its ugly head, there was legal recourse available federally. Yet, like Cinderella’s carriage returning to a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight, President Trump has seemingly rolled the clocks back to 2020 so that housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity no longer has a federal legal remedy.
Where do we go from here?
Since 1968, we have had federal fair housing laws enshrine the right to a home regardless of identity markers like race, religion, and national origin. It’s time for sexual orientation and gender identity to be the same, which means our associations (Realtors have been the largest trade association) should be lobbying for this with our senators.
In the meantime, even if your state does not explicitly treat sexual orientation or gender identity as a fair housing-protected class, let’s all recommit to the Realtor code of ethics, which means unfairness is not allowable — among clients or colleagues — on our watch.
Lee Davenport is a real estate coach/educator and author.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.
To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.
