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Nearly two years after launching its “Rule 10” campaign, the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance is upping the ante. a new web page The project tracks anti-LGBTQ lawmakers who receive funding from the Realtors Political Action Committee (RPAC), the lobbying arm of the National Association of Realtors.
Ryan Wayant
“The Alliance has a responsibility to advocate on behalf of our LGBTQ+ members and current and potential LGBTQ+ home buyers and sellers,” Ryan Weyandt, CEO of the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, said in a written statement Thursday. “By 2024, RPAC-funded Lawmakers have introduced more than 320 bills. This needs to change.”
RPAC has donated more than $3.3 million to anti-LGBTQ lawmakers since 2018, according to the page, which is based on data from the American Civil Liberties Union, Bill Track 50 and several other public data sources.
This year alone, lawmakers have introduced 322 bills aimed at censoring LGBTQ-inclusive school curricula, eliminating access to gender-affirming health care, limiting drag performers’ ability to perform in certain public spaces, and providing financial support for those who don’t want to do so. Business owners are offered religious exemptions. Serving LGBTQ+ clients joins a host of other laws that limit the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens.
Screenshot of affiliate tracker.
This page lists every anti-LGBTQ bill proposal since 2018 and its current legislative status. It also lists whether the lawmaker sponsoring the bill received RPAC funding and, if so, how much. Funding ranges from five figures (one Iowa lawmaker received $50,000 during his term in 2022) to several hundred dollars.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Missouri have pioneered anti-LGBTQ legislation this year, with approximately one-third of anti-LGBTQ bill proposals coming from these states (100). The number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year (330) is 37% lower than the total in 2023 (510).
The coalition said the page’s data will be updated regularly to reflect new anti-LGBTQ bill proposals.
Anita Blue
“I live in Texas and am an agent with eXp Realty,” alliance president Anita Blue said in a written statement. “I love working in the real estate industry and know how important it is to fund pro-housing politicians. But as our new website shows, RPAC often supports those who are also anti-LGBTQ+.”
“We are launching the website in the hope of sparking necessary discussions about changing the system of who receives RPAC funding,” she added. “Housing and communities go hand in hand, so those who divide us should not be supported.”
In a phone call with Inman, Weyandt said the site was motivated by frustration at having RPAC evaluate political candidates under Section 10 of the NAR Code of Ethics, which prohibits real estate agents from evaluating political candidates based on “race, religion, national origin, color, familial status, sex and disability.”
“You can’t say one thing with the left mouth and another thing with the right mouth,” he said. “We’re in a world where we can’t just talk about one topic at a time, so saying you serve pro-housing politicians and candidates is a ‘get out of jail free’ card that they’re very used to using to rationalize the other side of the sword, which is Kill people.”
Weant said civil rights are closely tied to housing rights, as anti-LGBTQ+ bills make it difficult for LGBTQ homebuyers and sellers to achieve the American dream of being able to live and invest in a community without fear and judgment.
“I firmly believe real estate agents are ambassadors for their communities,” he said. “They pride themselves on knowing enough about the homes and communities they serve — they need to convey trust, hope and the promise of the American dream to their clients.”
“So how can we claim that we still support homeownership for all if we are scrutinizing and funding politicians who are working to systematically eliminate the rights of certain segments of the population?” he added. “This simply doesn’t work. It doesn’t exist. It’s a double standard. Clean and tidy. It can’t be tolerated anymore.”
When asked about the coalition’s RPAC tracker, a NAR spokesperson told Inman that RPAC has a “comprehensive process” to evaluate legislators who receive funding.
The spokesperson pointed Inman to an explanation video that states that 21 RPAC trustees are responsible for approving or denying funding requests from state-level RPAC leaders. Trustees will consider lawmakers’ voting records and support for housing-related issues, such as fair housing, the film said.
“These decisions are not made lightly,” the film reads. “They are based on a thorough understanding of the state government’s reasoning and RPAC’s commitment to supporting candidates who advocate for pro-housing policies, regardless of party.”
NAR has a long record of bipartisan funding, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers splitting equally among the $7.2 million allocated in 2022, a spokesman said.
“The (ethical) code applies only to real estate agents,” the spokesman concluded. “Using the Code for other purposes or requiring non-real estate agents to comply with the Code would make effective enforcement of the Code difficult.”
Although NAR rejected the coalition’s request, Weyandt and coalition project manager Pip Franke said the page still has the power to change the minds of real estate agents and RPAC leaders and help them understand the scale of anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the United States.
“Thankfully, we have so many allies standing with us, including those who have made a pledge to stop real estate hate,” he said. “Real estate leaders and professionals can do better. We can use our power to do good and hopefully make candidates reconsider their views through divestment. If real estate agents must abide by a code of ethics, then clearly we Those who support it should be held to similar standards.”
Email Marianne McPherson
