Accepting All, In Faith And Finance

I’m expecting to get a lot of hate mail. Across this nation, we’re witnessing an abhorrent rush to eradicate, or at the very least marginalize, anyone and anything that doesn’t comport with what some conservative zealots believe.

If you’re a woman, your health choices are no longer your own — even in states bragging that they are making it easier for people to have bodily autonomy regardless of how many other people suffer. Mobs who profess to cherish freedom of speech want to stop the free speech of drag queens.

If you’re transgender, all the science and advice of trained medical professionals isn’t stopping cruel and sadistic politicians from using bad law to try to eradicate you. And if you’re LGBTQ+, discrimination is being reinvigorated and reimagined in new laws that give folks wide latitude to refuse service or goods based on their religious beliefs, be they strongly held or simply convenient excuses.

From an extended period in which we, as a nation, embraced the idea that each of us should be free to live our life in love and community, we are rapidly descending into a new era of condescension, bigotry, and stupidity. We want to curtail freedom, impose arbitrary and capricious morals on others, and put a boot heel on the necks of any who disagree. If people are allowed to deny service to a gay couple because of a moral objection, it will not be long before we are back to the dark ages of refusing housing or financing because of someone’s “difference.”

At NMP, we’re glad to spotlight the diversity inherent in our nation, whether that be because of race, wealth, or gender. The world is big enough for everyone. But it’s hard for non-white, non-male, non-conservative mortgage pros to grow and find support and harmony in other colleagues in the industry. How can we be sure? Because when we simply sent out an email asking for companies who support these initiatives to identify themselves, we were bombarded with vicious, vile, and vindictive responses. Clearly, there are many in the mortgage ecosystem who want gay participants to get out or shut up and sit down. (We see the same whenever we look for achieving women.)

Read through this issue, and you’ll find a number of amazing and talented mortgage pros who happen to be LGBTQ+. If we, as an origination community, are to be a source for home loans, we each need to be that source for everyone — not just those who look and think like the originator. We need the widest possible pool of potential borrowers. It’s the only way out of this mortgage recession we’re in. Let’s accept everyone for who they are, and celebrate not just folks who are top producers, but those who are still overcoming roadblock after roadblock. It seems to me that’s the wisest — and most human — course to take.

I’m expecting to get a lot of hate mail.

VINCENT M. VALVO Publisher, Editor-in-Chief

STAFF

Vincent M. Valvo

CEO, PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Beverly Bolnick

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Christine Stuart

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

David Krechevsky

EDITOR

Keith Griffin

SENIOR EDITOR

Gary Rogo

SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

Mary Quinn

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER

Erica Drzewiecki, Katie Jensen, Ryan Kingsley, Sarah Wolak

STAFF WRITERS

Rob Chrisman, Dave Hershman, Erica LaCentra, Harvey Mackay, Lew Sichelman, Mary Kay Scully

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Nicole Coughlin, Nichole Cakirca

ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES

Alison Valvo

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC GROWTH

Steven Winokur

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Julie Carmichael

PROJECT MANAGER

Meghan Hogan

DESIGN MANAGER

Stacy Murray, Christopher Wallace

GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGERS

Navindra Persaud

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS

William Valvo

UX DESIGN DIRECTOR

Andrew Berman

HEAD OF CUSTOMER OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT

Tigi Kuttamperoor, Matthew Mullins

MULTIMEDIA SPECIALISTS

Melissa Pianin

MARKETING & EVENTS ASSOCIATE

Kristie Woods-Lindig

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

Joel Berman

FOUNDING PUBLISHER

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