03-29-2015, 06:07 AM
(03-28-2015, 08:16 PM)sally Wrote: Why should you have to put down your sexual preference on an online rental application? That study doesn't make any sense, I've never been asked my sexual preference on any application. The closest is on medical charts where they ask your marital status. Which you answer M or S.
You wouldn't typically be asked to put your sexual orientation on any application, sal.
The report explains the methodology; 7,000 paired-email tests in 50 metropolitan markets were conducted. Researchers identified housing providers who advertised the availability of a one-bedroom rental unit and sent them two emailed inquiries within a short time frame.
One email would be from a fictitious married couple and the other from a fictitious same-sex couple. In one format, for instance, the email from a man named “Adam” might have read, “Hello, I just saw your ad on [a website] for the apartment at [specific address] and I am definitely interested. Is it still available? Is there a time that my wife, Tina, and I can stop by and look it over?”
If Adam was meant to be gay, the email would have been similar in content and refer to “my partner, Johnathon” instead. For lesbian couples, two clearly female names were identified as partners in the email reply.
The results of the research:
-30% of the time, neither couple got a response.
-50% of the time, both couples got a response and the response to the heterosexual couple's inquiry was positive more frequently (they were told it was still available whereas the homosexual or lesbian couple was told it wasn't).
-20% of the time only one of the couples got a response and that was usually the heterosexual couple.
-The lesbian couple got a response and a positive response more frequently than the gay male couple.
-In summary, the study showed that about 15% of the time, all other factors equal, heterosexual couples were favored over gay couples.
It's not an insignificant percentage, nor is it like a vast majority of rental agencies or realtors gave a shit either way.
There was actually slightly more favor shown towards heterosexual couples in states with anti-discrimination laws, which is interesting but not surprising to me and is indicative of why I wouldn't actively oppose RFRA (though I certainly don't support such laws). The results of this study indicate that anti-discrimination laws don't make a difference in how unregulated businesses operate, at least when it comes to property rental. Likewise, I don't think laws protecting business people's rights to discriminate based on their religious beliefs make a difference in how private business, in property rental or any other industry, is conducted either. Those of us who've responded to this thread so far share a similar opinion in that regard.