Property rights vs. equal rights

I used to work with a TV photojournalist. Sometimes, when he was frustrated by one thing or another, he’d walk over to a wall and bang his head against it. The first time I saw it I asked him, “Why do you do that?” He said, “Because it feels so good when I stop.”

Back in May 2010 I did something that some probably thought was like banging my head against the wall. I asked the Holland City Council to ban discrimination of people based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in housing, employment and education. The city already has a couple ordinances prohibiting discrimination of people based on race, age, religion, etc. This would just add four simple words to those ordinances. As you probably know, it was not that simple. Recently the council voted against that request, 5-4.

Several council members said if they added sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing ordinances, it would take away people’s “property rights.” As I understand it, here’s how. Let’s say someone owns an apartment building in Holland and has a rental unit available. And let’s say Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi show up to rent it. And let’s also say the owner doesn’t like the fact that they’re a lesbian couple. If the owner were forced by law to rent to them, that would be taking away the owner’s property rights.

Of course, the owner is already forced by law not to discriminate against Chris Rock because of his race, Betty White because of her age and the Dalai Lama because of his religion. So the owner has already lost property rights. If you want to do business with the public, you can’t discriminate against a segment of the public. Except in Holland. At least for now.

Now, I’m no expert on history, but I believe the argument that property rights trump equal rights has been decided at least twice in our nation’s past. Back in the 1960s, when Congress passed Civil Rights legislation, it said in part that a restaurant owner had to serve black people, even if that owner didn’t like black people, because equal rights trump property rights. Before that, in the 1860s, we fought The Civil War in part to say that the equal rights of black people (you know, the right not to be slaves), trumped a slave owner’s property rights.

I announced after the council’s vote that I’d collect signatures to put this issue before the voters of Holland. That’s how several council members said it should be decided. If a majority votes that down, I’ll go back before council members next year, when their new term begins, and ask them again to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s equal rights ordinances. Why do I want to keep banging my head against the wall in Holland? Because, to paraphrase the TV photojournalist I used to work with, it’ll feel so good when I stop.