Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: “It’s Okay To Not Sell Homes To Gay People”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California) has lost the endorsement of a 1.3 million-member Realtors group after saying that refusing to sell homes to gay people should be allowed.

Rohrabacher, who is up for re-election in Orange County, said during a meeting with a group of Realtors last week, “Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone [if] they don’t agree with their lifestyle,” Wayne Woodyard, former president of the Orange County Association of Realtors and member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) told the Orange County Register. Rohrabacher added that “we’ve drawn the line at racism, but I don’t think we should extend that line.”

“I told the congressman that we need to add federal protections of the LGBTQ community as the final piece of the Fair Housing Act,” Woodyard told CNN. “And the minute I stopped speaking, he said, ‘I just will not support that.;”

Following his statement, the National Association of Realtors rescinded their endorsement of Rohrabacher.

“After reviewing all new, relevant information, it was determined that Rep. Rohrabacher will no longer receive support from NAR’s President’s Circle,” NAR president Elizabeth Mendenhall said in a statement. “Making this decision was the right thing for NAR to do; the association’s member Code of Ethics is far ahead of Congress on gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. We certainly hope that Congress will follow the lead set at our recent legislative meetings and support the elimination of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest organization for LGBTQ civil rights, issued a statement criticizing Rohrabacher, saying, “It is unconscionable that in 2018 that Dana Rohrabacher believes LGBTQ people do not deserve legal protections from housing discrimination.”

Article by Kaitlyn Martin