The City of Berwyn’s ordinances, amended in 2008, make it illegal to:
Make, print, circulate or publish, or cause to be made, printed, circulated or published, any written or oral notice, statement or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling, that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, age, military discharge status, marital status, familial status or disability, or that indicates an intention to make the preference, limitation or discrimination.
After reading the recent Tribune article on Berwyn’s efforts to rebrand itself to attract gay residents, how can one not conclude that Berwyn’s campaign encourages violations of both the letter and the spirit of its own fair housing ordinance?
Are Berwyn and its gay residents sending a not-so-subtle message that Berwyn is displeased with having become a predominantly Hispanic community?
Really? That’s a real stretch. For one, how do you make the leap from welcoming gays to not welcoming the Hispanic community? Gay is not an ethnicity, and Hispanics can in face be gay too. Two, did you not notice that the Trib article you link to features a lesbian Hispanic woman? Three, where is there any indication in this campaign about preference for housing sales or rentals? Trying to raise awareness that your community doesn’t discriminate against a certain demographic and instead is actually welcoming has nothing to do with preferential treatment whatsoever.
Your poorly thought-through criticism really just comes off as thinly-veiled homophobia. Maybe that’s not the case, but when you spout off like that with nothing to back you up, it really looks like you’re just looking for excuse to attack a campaign that is friendly to the gay community.
Lee,
There’s no homophobia here. Your suggestion that there is only shows how weak your argument is.
No preference for sales or rentals? Is there a new form of housing tenure in Berwyn I haven’t heard about? The Trib article’s featuring someone has no bearing on whether Berwyn’s campaign is legally discriminatory.
Fair housing laws make it ilegal to advertise any preference for or against protected categories. I’m a passionate believer in those laws, and don’t think anyone or any group should be exempt from complying with them.
Has Berwyn placed billboards in predominantly African-American or Hispanic communities? Or are they targeting a specific type of person with their campaign?
I think they are violating their rule, though I think the conclusion we should draw is that the rule is stupid. That said, if they put up ads that said “heterosexuals welcome” or something to that effect, I’m sure that people would be going after them. When you single out a specific group of people in your ads, you are implying that they are more (or less) welcome than people who are not in that category (or categories).
David,
To make the point even clearer, envision a campaign aimed at attracting “white Christians.”
Discrimination is ugly in any form, especially when it involves something as fundamental as housing.
This is absurd. Urban planners know the gay demographic is a great indicator of a city’s hipness quotient. San Francisco is “gay”, not Wichita. A city without gays is usually on the wrong side of a viable economic development strategy. The issue here isn’t a matter of discriminating against ethnic minorities. It’s a matter of signaling. Welcoming urban hipsters – gay, straight, Latino, or black – is simply smart.
walt,
What you call “signaling” is, in the plain English of fair housing laws, advertising a discriminatory preference.
Recast your argument by substituting “affluent white professionals” for gays and you can see the defect in it.
Berwyn did the right thing when it amended its ordinance to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Now it seems to be “signaling” that it’s okay to violate that principle.
Buuuurrrhhhwynnnn…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BudQ9YWx0X8
On a related note, I’ve seen Realtors in their MLS property remarks and descriptions write “great family home” or, family friendly block” etc…
I’ve meant to ask our association legal counsel if they can do this. I guess it may not promote or exclude a protected group. Marital status would not necessarily reflect “family”. Although, it does imply “kids”.
I do not believe a marketing campaign that promotes the city as a diverse and tolerant community to potential residents and visitors encourages people to violate the city ordinance and federal laws.
Many gays and lesbians are not willing to live in a community that has not proven to be tolerant. This is evidenced by communities like East Lakeview, Andersonville, Oak Park, and many more around the county. Unfortunately there are even more communities located in the Chicago metro and across the county where there is a real threat of bigotry and violence towards gays and lesbians.
Imagine a city or neighbor in the Chicago area during the 1960s promoting itself as tolerant of all races and acting aggressively to ensure racial steering was not taking place. A city sending a message to minorities that are accustomed to discrimination that states its stance on inclusion is not a violation of any law, and certainly not against the spirit of anti-discrimination laws.
I understand the Berwyn’s intentions may not be 100% pure. Cities are always looking to increase their tax base. But if Berwyn does have some hopes of creating a diverse and inclusive city it needs to let gays and lesbians know they can walk down the street holding their partner’s hand without fear of hearing a slur or being a victim of a hate crime.
We’re talking past each other, Kevin.
You’re arguing from common sense and I’m talking about legalities.
The letter of the law forbids advertising a preference for or against people based on their sexual orientation, race, national origin, etc. There’s a huge difference between ads targeted to Andersonville and Lake View saying “Berwyn welcomes gays,” or something similar and ads in a variety of neighborhoods saying “Berwyn is a diverse and welcoming community.” Are there no black or Hispanic gays? Why no ads in Englewood or Little Village? Can the entire gay community be reached in the areas that were targeted, or are only a certain type of people being targeted?
Berwyn’s campaign is not encouraging diversity. It’s encouraging a discriminatory preference for certain types of new residents to the exclusion of others. That’s exactly how it violates the spirit of fair housing laws.
The notion that Berwyn can assure anyone that they’re safe walking the streets of Berwyn hand-in-hand is fanciful at best.
Legally Berwyn is not violating the law because it is not advertising “with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.” It is advertising with respect a city. And cities can legally advertise to attract residents.
Is Berwyn encouraging violations of the law? Meaning the advertisement is an implied message to Berwyn’s realtors and homeowners that they should discriminate against other groups in favor of gays and lesbians. There are many black and Hispanic gays and lesbians that live in Boystown and Andersonville. Furthermore, many more visit these neighborhoods because of their reputation for acceptance. So Berwyn’s ads are not only targeting white gays and lesbians.
There is no doubt that gays and lesbians are often the first sign of gentrification.
Are you arguing that by encouraging gentrification, Berwyn is essentially encouraging discrimination?
Like I said before, I hope Berwyn has mostly noble intentions. But I’m sure parts of its intentions include ideas of gentrifications. It wants to be more like Oak Park.
Is chasing gentrification, investments, developments inherently discriminatory to racial minorities, especially blacks and Hispanics? Maybe, the whole gentrification debate is pretty lengthy and complex.
I can buy Berwyn is encouraging gentrification, but I don’t believe that automatically equals discrimination against blacks and Hispanics.
Kevin,
The ads are placed by the Berwyn Development Corporation (BDC), a quasi-public entity, not by the city. The BDC’s membership includes landlords, developers and real estate brokers, and the BDC is specifically a “person” within the definitions section of the law.
If gays respond to the BDC’s appeal, they have to buy or rent a dwelling to live in Berwyn, no? This may not be advertising a preference in connection with a specific dwelling, but it’s advertising a preference in connection with Berwyn dwellings in general. Not, in my view, a legally defensibe distinction.
If this ad campaign were targeted to “Christian non-Hispanic whites” and run in Mount Greenwood and Edison Park, would you view it as charitably?
On this topic, I have seen in comments that there were or are efforts to bring in a gay community in the South Shore neighborhood. I would wonder if they could engage in such a targeted marketing campaign as Berwyn has.
Levois,
There’ve also been sporadic attempts in Pullman to attract gays, and there’s a gay association (GALA) there.
Please, everyone, stop trying to poach the north side gays. They’re a valuable economic asset in their current locations. Spread them too thin and it costs the city a lot of tourist dollars and suburbanite dollars.
As an Uptown resident I wholeheartedly agree with Joe.
Gays tend to make excellent neighbors and l’d hope more of them and their lovely money and businesses would move to Uptown. The area around Broadway/Lawrence has partially become a secondary “boystown” catering to an older gay crowd.
The stereotypes regarding flowers and beautification are certainly true. Plus generally speaking you don’t have roving gangs of gays shooting or beating the hell outta people. Although, they have been known to criticize unwary homeowners landscaping or residents fashion choices.
An added benefit for me is that as a middle aged, fat, straight guy it gives the local straight female population fewer dating choices. Less competition for me. Plus many straight females and gay men get along fabulously. Which means if I’m dating a woman with gay friends I don’t need to talk about “feelings” so much with her. I can just go off in a corner and check out the internet or read some manly stuff like Grant’s Memoirs while grunting and snickering and farting occasionally. In a very straight manly way of course.
There is a bigger gay community than many of you realize on the south side already – just not as congregated as the wealthy white males of the north lakefront.
Pullman has a big community already for the size of the community. Jesse Jr has said that – about South Shore and I know a few white gay men who’ve moved there (mainly people who already had some ties, albeit distant, to the area). Berwyn has a bigger gay contingent however, I suspect that they’re already trying to build on the existing base that’s there.
In terms of fair housing law, it appears Berwyn is in violation with this campaign.