June is always Pride Month and a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community, as well as reflect on the history of those in America who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer. While most people understand the LGBTQ community has faced discrimination, many people do not realize how widespread this discrimination was and the many personal ways it affected people, or the significant impact it still has today.

Fair access to housing is one of those areas. In New Hampshire, the legislature added sexual orientation to its “hate crime” law in 1991, and the Law Against Discrimination, which protects people from discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation, was amended in 1998 to include sexual orientation. Gender identity was not added as a protected class to NH’s Law Against Discrimination until 2018. And until 2021, HUD did not interpret the federal Fair Housing Act, which protects against discrimination based on sex, to include sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination. HUD did, however, prohibit discrimination in HUD-subsidized housing based on these categories since 2016 through its Equal Access Rule.

Recent changes, based on a 2020 Supreme Court employment discrimination case, have strengthened federal protections to ensure anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+ is protected from discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.

Fair Housing 101

Federal law prohibits discrimination in housing, such as refusing to rent or sell, as well as refusing financing or offering different terms, based on a number of protected classes, including race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.

New Hampshire has additional protections, also prohibiting discrimination based on age, marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Last year the White House took a similar step when President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to extend protections against discrimination based on sex to include discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. In response, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it would enforce the Fair Housing Act in such a way as to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

What Does LGBTQ Housing Discrimination Look Like?

If a landlord tells a potential tenant they do not want to rent the apartment because they don’t rent to members of the LGBTQ community, that’s a blatant example of discrimination. However, housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity can be veiled and harder to identity.

Here are some examples:

• A tenant is evicted after the landlord discovers the tenant dates people of the same sex.

• A same-sex couple asks a realtor to see housing throughout the city but is only shown units in neighborhoods known for having many LGBTQ residents.

• A maintenance worker or other employee of an apartment building sexually harasses a female tenant because she is a lesbian.

• Refusing to rent to a family because one of their children identifies as LGBTQ.

• Denying housing based on actual or perceived HIV/AIDS status.

• A building manager refusing to do repairs on an apartment that is being rented by a same-sex couple because they do not approve of “the gay lifestyle.”

Filing a Complaint

Because members of the LGBTQ community are a protected class throughout the US, people who reside in New Hampshire and suspect they’ve been a victim of LGBTQ housing discrimination can file a complaint either with the state of New Hampshire or on the federal level.

If you suspect you have been the victim of housing discrimination because of your gender identity or sexual orientation contact HUD or the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights. The New Hampshire Legal Assistance Fair Housing Project is also available to provide information on filing a complaint and to evaluate your case for possible representation by one of our advocates. NHLA helps victims of housing discrimination get the protections and remedies they deserve.

For more information, go to fairhousing-nh.org or call 1-800-921-1115.