A same-sex couple in Evansville, Ind., has been awarded damages against a company that refused to rent a house to them because of their relationship.
Kimberly and Chasity Scott filed a complaint against Myers Family Rentals in 2020 after they were denied the opportunity to rent a house the Myers firm had advertised to the public on the real-estate website Zillow, reported the Evansville Courier & Press.
The couple reported that as they were touring the house, a member of the Myers family asked them whether they were “together, together” or “lesbian.” Kimberly Scott replied that they were married, and the Myers firm refused to rent the house to them.
The Scotts subsequently filed a complaint with the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Human Relations Commission, which ruled in the couple’s favor last month. The commission assessed Myers Family Rentals with $41,000 in civil penalties and damages.
Myers Family Rentals has stated that they will not rent property to “people who choose to live as boyfriend and girlfriend, fiancés, male or female homosexuals, polygamous, polyamorous, or any other relationship that denies God’s requirement … that marriage be between one man and one woman.”
The Courier & Press reported that under the commission’s ruling, Myers Family Rentals must pay $16,000 in civil penalties, pay $25,000 in damages to the Scotts and cease all forms of unlawful discrimination.
