Woman Sued for Seeking a Roommate Via Her Church's Bulletin Board

The politically correct do-gooders are out in force in Michigan. The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, which styles itself as "a private, non-profit organization established in 1980 to ensure equal housing opportunity as guaranteed under federal, state, and local fair housing laws," has filed a civil rights complaint against a woman in Grand Rapids who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate.

The full, incredible story may be read here. Some choice excerpts:

"It's a violation to make, print or publish a discriminatory statement," Executive Director Nancy Haynes told Fox News. "There are no exemptions to that."

Haynes said the unnamed 31-year-old woman’s case was turned over to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Depending on the outcome of the case, she said, the woman could face several hundreds of dollars in fines and “fair housing training so it doesn’t happen again.”

Harold Core, director of public affairs with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, told the Grand Rapids Press that the Fair Housing Act prevents people from publishing an advertisement stating their preference of religion, race or handicap with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.

And how did the non-profit, private Fair Housing Center find out about what a parishioner put up on her church bulletin board? From a politically correct private snitch, that's who:

Haynes said the person who filed the initial complaint saw the ad on the church bulletin board and contacted the local fair housing organization.

The ad included the words, "Christian roommate wanted," along with the woman's contact information. Had the ad not included the word "Christian," Haynes said, it would not have been illegal.

"If you read it and you were not Christian, would you not feel welcome [sic] to rent there?" Haynes asked.

Not only was this not "advertising" in the commercial sense of the word, this was protected speech: an attempt by a member of a church to communicate with her fellow parishioners, through a private medium furnished by the church.

But the complainants seem to be incapable of understanding basic First Amendment law:

Haynes said the unnamed 31-year-old woman’s case was turned over to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Depending on the outcome of the case, she said, the woman could face several hundreds of dollars in fines and “fair housing training so it doesn’t happen again.”

Harold Core, director of public affairs with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, told the Grand Rapids Press that the Fair Housing Act prevents people from publishing an advertisement stating their preference of religion, race or handicap with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.

"It's really difficult to say at this point what could potentially happen," he told the newspaper, noting that there are exemptions in the law for gender when there is a shared living space.

. . .

But Haynes said officials plan on pursuing the matter.

"We want to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.

The accused woman is receiving a free defense from the Alliance Defense Fund, which has fired off a letter from its attorneys to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. The letter correctly notes:

[The defendant woman] is not a landlord. She does not own a management company. She does not run an apartment complex. She is a single person seeking to have a roommate live with her in her house. She is not prohibited by either federal law or state law from seeking a Christian roommate . . . To the extent either law is applied against her to interfere with her right to live with a Christian roommate, such action would be in blatant violation of her First Amendment rights to freedom of association.

Thus far the Department has not responded. No doubt its attorneys have to go brush up on the First Amendment, and then seek the permission of the Department's official in charge of politically correct communications before they can reply.

Mark Twain, when he ran across an equally infuriating public body, made a remark which could readily be adapted here (substitute as appropriate for "school boards"):

"First God made idiots. That was for practice. Then He made school boards."