LGBTQ Community: Know Your Rights As A Homebuyer Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: Emma Innocenti/Getty Images October 25, 2021 Checkmark Bankrate logo How is this page expert verified? At Bankrate, we take the accuracy of our content seriously. "Expert verified" means that our Financial Review Board thoroughly evaluated the article for accuracy and clarity. The Review Board comprises a panel of financial experts whose objective is to ensure that our content is always objective and balanced. Their reviews hold us accountable for publishing high-quality and trustworthy content. Suzanne De Vita is the mortgage editor for Bankrate, focusing on mortgage and real estate topics for homebuyers, homeowners, investors and renters. John Stearns, CMC, CRMS is a Senior Mortgage Loan Originator with American Fidelity Mortgage. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our mortgage reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the latest rates, the best lenders, navigating the homebuying process, refinancing your mortgage and more — so you can feel confident when you make decisions as a homebuyer and a homeowner. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. More than 50 years after the was enacted in the United States, the lesbian, gay, bis exual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community is making significant strides in homeownership. One milestone came earlier this year when the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it would begin enforcing the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Although the real estate industry as a whole has been supportive of the LGBTQ community, housing discrimination has been a major obstacle for same-sex couples. A 2019 out of Iowa State University looked at mortgage data from 1990 through 2015 and found that loan approval rates for same-sex couples were 3 percent to 8 percent lower than for heterosexual couples. Same-sex couples also paid more in financing: as much as $86 million more per year, collectively. Further, a 2020 National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals (NAGLREP) revealed that 30 percent of NAGLREP members believe their LGBT clients are “very or extremely concerned” about housing discrimination. How to recognize housing discrimination
While HUD works to enforce the Fair Housing Act and address cases of discrimination, it’s up to homebuyers and renters to call out unfair practices. There are several clear signals of discrimination to watch for: A mortgage lender who isn’t upfront about A real estate agent who refuses to represent you A seller who suddenly claims their house is off the market If you and your partner have to work harder to get financing compared with male/female couples If you are turned away from certain rental properties, even when there’s a vacancy How to protect yourself from housing discrimination
One of the most important steps to protecting yourself from housing discrimination is to work with an LGBTQ-friendly real estate agent. You can find agents through NAGLREP . Get referrals from family and friends for the best agents in your area. In addition to finding an agent, shop around for a mortgage lender who you can be sure won’t discriminate against you. You can consult your for help. What to do if you experience housing discrimination
If you believe you’ve been the victim of housing discrimination, there are several ways you can take action: Speak with an attorney. File a complaint with HUD or call 800-669-9777 (or 800-877-8339 for hearing impaired). File a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . Call the . Contact your local . Housing discrimination laws and resources by state
Some states have housing protection laws in place for the LGBTQ community — but not all — and others have NAGLREP chapters. In 2020, the Supreme Court issued an important decision that extended the concept of sex discrimination from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Four states have adopted what is known as the Bostock rationale, based on one of the cases involved in the decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia: Kansas Nebraska North Dakota Pennsylvania In the longer term, advocates and supporters of the LGBTQ community are backing the proposed Equality Act, which would amend current civil rights law to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, sex and gender identity in credit and housing as well as employment, public accommodations, public education, federal funding and the jury system. The House of Representatives passed the bill in February of this year, but it remains stalled in the Senate. Learn more
SHARE: Suzanne De Vita is the mortgage editor for Bankrate, focusing on mortgage and real estate topics for homebuyers, homeowners, investors and renters. John Stearns, CMC, CRMS is a Senior Mortgage Loan Originator with American Fidelity Mortgage. Related Articles