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A real estate brokerage violated the human rights code in
the city of Alexandria, Va., by discriminating against an unmarried man in the
sale of a home, according to a decision by the city's Human Rights Commission.
Lawrence Cummings, 52, who is gay, filed a complaint with
the commission in February 2004, charging that he suffered discrimination when his
offer to purchase a home was rejected in favor of another offer by a married
couple. The commission considered whether his marital status and sexual
orientation played a role in the sale of a home to a couple who offered less
money to the seller.
"The Commission determined that Long & Foster Real
Estate Inc. permitted and assisted the sellers in making a decision not to sell
a house to Mr. Cummings and otherwise discriminated against him in the terms
and conditions of the sale of housing based on his marital status,"
according to a public
announcement by the city, issued Tuesday. "The eight Commissioners who
heard this case did not find that Mr. Cummings sustained his burden of proof to
show that he suffered discrimination because of his sexual orientation."
The commission recommended, in its 27-page decision,
that the city levy a minimum fine of $5,000 against Long & Foster, and
further recommended two civil penalties of $5,000 each. "(Long &
Foster's) conduct was intentional and they continued to represent the sellers
even after admitting that discrimination occurred. We believe this wholly
unacceptable and illegal conduct warrants the imposition of civil penalties for
violations of the code," commissioners stated.
Brien A. Roche, a lawyer who represented Long & Foster,
said the company was vindicated of discrimination based on sexual orientation,
and will consider whether to appeal the commission's finding of discrimination
based on marital status to a court. "The issue of his being gay was, in
effect, a non-issue," Roche said today. He said the city's commission
"has no legal effect, per se - they're not a court."
The company is still reviewing whether to appeal the
commission's finding in court, Roche said. "We're obviously not happy with
the decision as it relates to his being single," he said. While the
sellers of the home had agreed to pay a settlement to Cummings to resolve the
issue, Long & Foster refused to settle, Roche said.
Dale Edwin Sanders, a lawyer who represented Cummings, said
the ruling "was reasonable and appropriate," and he does not expect
Cummings will seek to appeal the commission's unanimous finding of housing
discrimination based on marital status. He did not disclose the amount of the
settlement that had earlier been reached with the home's sellers.
Cummings chose to file the complaint with the city, Sanders
said, because "he wanted to make a public statementand to let people know
this happened and it happened to him." Cummings will not receive any
compensation from Long & Foster for any civil penalty that is levied by the
city, he added.
Gay men in Virginia are not allowed to be married, and are
thus are a part of that larger population of single people, he said. "The
ruling says that the sellers deliberately discriminated against the man because
he is single. If you don't like single people - then, by definition, gay people
in the state of Virginia are going to also be a part of that (single)
population."
While "nobody mentioned the 'gay' word in any sort of
evidence," Sanders said, he believes the sellers assumed that Cummings is
gay after meeting him in person. "His gay presence doesn't translate into
the written record. I think the assumption was made." Cummings viewed the
for-sale property with two other men, Sanders said.
A key part of the case, Sanders said, was a recorded
telephone message from Anise Snyder, the broker in charge for the Long &
Foster office that handled the home sale, to David Howell, the broker in charge
for the McEnearney real estate office that represented Cummings.
"On the voicemail, Ms. Snyder admitted that Mr.
Cummings' offer 'apparently was higher, money-wise' than the (family's) offer.
She alsoadmitted that for the sellers 'emotion played the biggest part' and 'it
had nothing to do with anything else, other than the fact that they fell in
love with this little family." Snyder also stated, according to the
commission's decision, that the family who offered to purchase the house had
said, "Oh my God, we love this house, we want our children to grow up here
and go to the local schools. We don't want to change a thing."
The home sellers, William and Barbara Wilson, had lived in
the home for about 40 years and raised their kids there, and Barbara's father
built the house, according to the commission report. The commission found that
the sellers' testimony was at times contradictory. Specifically, the commission
noted that Barbara Wilson's testimony, "was evasive and contradicted her
own and others' testimony. Based on her demeanor and statements, we discredit a
large portion of her testimony."
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