The National Association of Realtors might not itself get hit since they’re based in Chicago. It’s the Trump supporters that may find it harder to buy or sell a home. Both professional and private speech may be banning what it calls “hate speech and harassing speech”. It’s not going to stop there. It will come down to anybody who believes in MAGA in any industry.
At one point we all believed in MAGA
We all wanted to Make America Great Again. But now that’s connected with Trump. The new policy states it would be “making it a violation for Realtors to use harassing or hate speech toward any of the protected classes under Article 10 of NAR’s Code of Ethics.”
Those “protected” classes so far are “race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity. NAR’s Advisory Board recommended that its Code of Ethics apply to every action a Realtor® takes, whether personal or professional,”
No personal beliefs of MAGA
Will be tolerated because you know that’s where this is going. The rational for this policy according to the board:
…directly flows from the requirement to not deny equal professional services or be parties to a plan to discriminate. Specifically, bias against protected classes revealed through the public posting of hate speech could result in REALTORS® not taking clients from certain protected classes or not treating them equally, which would lead to violations of the Fair Housing Act due to overt discrimination or disparate impact.
NAR President Vince Malta was pleased. “I applaud NAR’s Board of Directors and our Professional Standards Committee for their efforts to raise the bar on the professionalism and private speech of America’s 1.4 million Realtors®.” In addition he mentioned, “Combatting and overcoming bigotry and injustice starts with each of us. Realtors® today took tangible steps to ensure we are held to the highest possible standard while providing a mechanism of enforcement for those who violate our new policies.” There would be a fine involved and expulsion.
MAGA realtors are already bailing
Or refusing to be a part of the organization because anybody can file a claim against an agent. Robert Foehl, a professor of business ethics and law at Ohio University said, “The dam has broken and other organizations will look at this. If this is good for real estate agents, why not attorneys, why not doctors?” Föehl told John Murawski of RealClearInvestions. “They’re going to be pressured to do what NAR has done. And that pressure is going to be very real, because what organization wants to argue they should allow hate speech by their members?”
Eugene Volokh, law professor of UCLA said, “What we’re talking about is a new blacklist. One of the things that’s troubling about the National Association of Realtors’ position is that it is trying to deploy the organized economic power of this group in order to suppress dissenting political views among members.”
