R A I N B O W R E S I S TA N C E
Discrimination with a Smile How Gender Identity and Expression are Treated in the Rental Market By
Jamie Langowski
Deals are often sealed with a handshake and a smile. The problem is that discrimination also often occurs with a handshake and a smile, making it difficult to detect. Many people suspect that they were discriminated against while searching for housing, but have no proof. Alternatively, others are completely unaware that they were treated differently than their fellow housing seekers. When two people meet with the same housing provider about the same property in close temporal proximity, one would assume that they would be treated similarly. In a recent HUD-funded study, Suffolk University Law School Housing Discrimination Testing Program used matched pair testing and uncovered evidence of discrimination against trans and gender nonconforming housing seekers in Massachusetts. Classes that are protected under federal housing law include race, color, religion, national origin, families with children, disability, and sex. States have the ability to increase protections by adding classes to the protected list, and, in 2012, Massachusetts became one of 20 states (including DC) to add gender identity to its housing anti-discrimination law. Expanding the enumerated protected classes to include gender identity and expression makes it illegal to discriminate against trans or gender nonconforming housing seekers and, if discrimination does occur, provides the victim with legal recourse. Today, other states are contemplating adoption of legislation similar to Massachusetts, but is it needed? Is discrimination based on gender identity occurring in the rental housing market? The answer is yes. Suffolk University Law School started the Housing Discrimination Testing Program (HDTP) in 2012, not long after Massachusetts expanded its protections to include gender identity as a protected class. The HDTP educates people about fair housing laws, represents people with fair housing claims, and conducts tests to determine
whether discrimination is occurring in the rental housing market. A test involves sending a pair of similarly qualified people out to pretend to be interested in renting a property to evaluate how people are being treated. The testers are as similar as possible in all respects, except that one belongs to the protected class and the other does not. The value of matched pair testing is that it reveals discriminatory differences in treatment that cannot be masked by a friendly demeanor. Over a nine-month period, spanning 2016 and 2017, the HDTP conducted a small-scale empirical study to measure the level of discrimination faced by trans and gender nonconforming people seeking rental housing in Metro Boston. The study, led by Professor William Berman, Regina Holloway, Jamie Langowski, and Camron McGinn, is published in the spring 2018 issue of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. Overall, the study revealed evidence of discriminatory differential treatment in 61 percent of the tests and produced statistically significant data regarding the specific ways that discrimination is occurring. Housing providers are discriminating against this class in subtle and hard-to-detect ways. Specifically, testers were 27 percent less likely to be shown amenities outside the unit; 21 percent less likely to be offered a financial incentive to rent; 12 percent more likely to be told negative comments about the apartment and the neighborhood; and nine percent more likely to be quoted a higher rental price. These examples of differential treatment are nearly impossible for a housing seeker to uncover independently. The HDTP recruited 33 trans and/or gender nonconforming people (protected class testers or “PC testers”) and 33 cisgender and gender conforming people (“Control testers”). A test coordinator directed pairs of testers to inquire about advertised housing, and then collected detailed reports from the testers after their site visits. Testers were matched in pairs based on factors such as age and race. The test-
Is discrimination based on gender identity occurring in the rental housing market? The answer is yes.
104 | Boston Pride 2018
