I am a student working at the John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Clinic hoping to spread awareness about LGBTQ fair housing rights.
With the recent slew of anti-transgender laws being passed, this seems to be a relevant discussion of what the federal, state, and local laws do to protect the LGBTQ community in housing. The main question being, what are my rights, if any?
Federal Protections
Fair housing laws seek to ensure that everyone has the right to buy, sell, and rent housing without discrimination. But, one must be discriminated against on the basis of being part of a protected class to enforce said laws.
While race, color, religion and national origin have long been protected classes that have experienced discrimination and have needed protection, more than ever, we are now seeing cases of housing discrimination against LGBTQ persons. Generally, LGBTQ persons are categorized into the protected classes of sexual orientation or gender identity making the discrimination illegal. However, the Federal Fair Housing and Amendments Act does not specifically recognize sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes.
Federal protections that do exist are, for example, if a person is denied housing because they are transgender, then it may be discrimination toward a protected class, sex not sexual orientation. However, these federal protections are highly situational and do not provide adequate protection. The federal laws should be changed to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.
The Federal Fair Housing and Amendments Act started with only four protected classes and now contains seven. Change, albeit slowly, is possible. Even now members of Congress are working to pass a comprehensive LGBTQ anti-discrimination piece of legislation entitled the Equality Act which is sponsored by more than 60 large companies.
State Protections
In January of 2005, the Illinois legislature worked to include "sexual orientation" as a protected class in the Illinois Human Rights Act. Sexual orientation is described in the Illinois Human Rights Act as the actual or perceived state of bisexuality, homosexuality, or heterosexuality and includes in the definition discrimination based on "gender-related identity." When it comes to state protections in instances of fair housing discrimination, Illinois is helping lead the way in providing rules which can be used to further protect the LGBTQ community. Additionally, the act provides a civil penalty for up to $10,000 for a first offense. However, only a small percentage of discrimination cases reported to the state are due to sexual orientation, likely because people do not know the laws or have decided not to report the discriminationor they may not think they can prove bias.
Local Protections
Finally, both Cook County and the City of Chicago have recognized both sexual orientation and gender identity as separate protected classes. Sexual orientation is described in roughly the same way as provided in the Illinois Human Rights Act, while gender identity "means the actual or perceived appearance, expression, identity or behavior, of a person as being male or female, whether or not that appearance, expression, identity or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's designated sex at birth."
Chicago's statute goes further than all of the others allowing for damages of up to $1,000 for each violation. This is a highly tenant-friendly statute and provides serious protection for the LGBTQ community in Chicago.
Despite the fact that people have these statutes and acts to help them, they are highly under-utilized. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stated that only about 1% of housing discrimination cases are ever reported. This means that not enough people know about nor are standing up for their rights.
Our rights as human beings and tenants in Chicago and Illinois are only available if we choose to assert them. Right now, people are being turned aside without repercussion and people must work together to ensure this does not continue unopposed. Know that you are not alone and that these rights were created specifically for the LGBTQ community. Exercise your rights and stand up.
If you feel you have experienced housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, contact the John Marshall Law School or your local housing authority with any questions you have regarding your rights.
Kingston is a 29-year-old law student attending John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He is working at the John Marshall Fair Housing Clinic and also working at a class-action law firm, McGuire Law, focusing on Plaintiff consumer protection. He graduated from undergrad at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada in 2008.