In Arkansas, Landlords Can Legally Discriminate Based On Sexual Orientation

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) — When a woman emailed a question to our VERIFY team, in the process of uncovering the answer, there seemed to be a lack of protection for certain renters.

“I thought, ‘surely there’s not discriminatory laws on the books,'” said Galen Nippert after hearing otherwise.

Someone told her that renters in Arkansas can be evicted based on their sexual orientation.

That’s when she wrote into our VERIFY team, asking,  “is it true that in Arkansas and 30 other states that a tenant can be evicted based on their sexual orientation?”

To get answers, we looked at language in the Federal Fair Housing Act, and we asked University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Professor Lynn Foster.

“In Arkansas, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is legal.”

It’s true: it is legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

“Oh, I was shocked. I was going, ‘that can’t be right,'” Nippert said.

But it is right.

According to Professor Foster, what that means in a landlord-tenant context is, “if you apply for an apartment, you can be turned down because of your sexual orientation and gender identity and that’s perfectly legal.”

Professor Foster also said that if your lease is about to expire, your landlord can refuse to renew your lease on that basis.

“If you are a month to month tenant, your landlord can order you to leave in 30 days,” Foster said.

The US Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing because of:

• race
• color
• national origin
• religion
• sex
• familial status
• disability

But nothing about sexual orientation.

Twenty states, however, do have some protection for people based on sexual orientation, but it is verified Arkansas along with nearly 30 other states is not one of them.

“31 states? That’s just beyond belief,” said Nippert. “You can be discriminated against based on your sexual orientation by your landlord.”

If you have a written lease, your landlord can’t evict you during the term of your lease unless you have breached the lease in some way.

In that narrow sense, you can’t be evicted on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.