In my early 20s, my boyfriend and I wanted to rent an inexpensive but nice one bedroom apartment in the suburbs of New Orleans. Because this apartment was in Jefferson Parish, it wasn't covered by New Orleans' new anti-discrimination law that banned discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation.
When I spoke to the apartment manager on the phone and I inquired about the apartment she told me, in no uncertain terms that there was a one bedroom apartment available and that two people were allowed to live in a one bedroom apartment. However, when me and my boyfriend showed up to look at the one bedroom apartment the apartment manager told us that two men weren't allowed to live in a one bedroom apartment, and the only thing we could rent was a two bedroom apartment. A two bedroom apartment there was more expensive and would not have saved us the money we hoped to save by moving to the suburbs.
Other attempts to move to less expensive housing in the suburbs were often met with comments like "we only rent to families" or "this is a family neighborhood so I don't think the neighbors would feel comfortable with you two living here," or "we only rent to married couples."
While the gay rights movement focuses DADT repeal or DOMA repeal, some of the most basic rights are still lacking for LGBT Americans, namely, the right to be judged for employment and housing without fear of discrimination. Rep Joe Sestak is proposing something to change that:
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and current congressman Joe Sestak submitted a bill last week that would prevent anti-LGBT discrimination in the rental, sale, or financing of a home.
The Housing Nondiscrimination Act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the characteristics that cannot be considered in housing transactions, including race and sex.
Link
This and ENDA are two of the most important pieces of LGBT legislation out there. While the elitists in the gay rights movement (HRC, I am looking at you) continue to focus on DADT because of its symbolic importance, that issue only affects a tiny portion of LGBT Americans, housing and employment discrimination are far more important issues to tackle.
I urge you to contact your Congressman to support Sestak's effort on the Housing Non-Discrimination Act.