Transgender apartment hunters regularly encounter "discrimination with a smile," according to a new study.
Kay Lazar reports on the findings of a study from Suffolk University Law School that finds "[t]ransgender people frequently encounter disparate treatment while apartment hunting in Greater Boston." That discrimination, however, is prohibited by Massachusetts state law.
"The Suffolk team found evidence of discrimination in more than 60 percent of the apartment shopping encounters studied," according to Lazar. The study described many of these encounters as "discrimination with a smile. " According to Lazar's explanation of the phenomenon, "[a]pplicants who made clear they were transgender generally received pleasant treatment, not realizing they were not offered the same discounts, amenities, and customer service typically given to applicants who are not transgender."
The article includes a lot more detail about the efforts of advocacy groups and the public sector to counter such discrimination.
FULL STORY: Most transgender renters see discrimination
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research