House Commerce rejects legislation that would prohibit housing discrimination on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The legislation was voluntarily deferred by bill author New Orleans Representative Aimee Freeman after a vote to move favorably was rejected 7-4.
Freeman said her bill would have brought Louisiana housing law in line with federal law and standard practice at the world’s biggest companies.
“Companies like Chevron, General Motors, General Electric, Ford, AT&T, Hewlett Packard, Bank of America, and Verizon have language like this to protect their employees and I just want to make sure that we add the same language to Louisiana law,” said Freeman.
Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center Policy Director Maxwell Ciardullo recounted the story of a woman who was sexually harassed by her landlord after she invited her girlfriend over to the house she was renting in Gretna.
“She was forced to endure vulgar, demeaning, and homophobic harassment from her landlord who told her that she should have sex with him because she might like it and that she did not know what she was missing,” said Ciardullo. “Eventually her landlord terminated her tenancy because of the visits by her girlfriend.”
Oil City Representative Danny McCormick spoke against the bill. He said landlords should be free to choose who they rent to.
“If they have a different belief system and they have an apartment upstairs, do they not have any choice in who they rent to?” asked McCormick.
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