Lesbian couple denied housing in senior living community
ST. LOUIS, MO •
Mary Walsh, 72, and Bev Nance, 68, both of Shrewsbury, say the Friendship Village, a St. Louis County senior community, denied occupancy to them to live at the Sunset Hills community in 2016 because their relationship violated its cohabitation policy that defines marriage as “the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible,” according to the lawsuit. Walsh and Nance were married in Massachusetts in 2009 but have been together for 37 years, their suit says.
Walsh said she’d raised the question of whether there would be a problem with two married women having a unit at another community that the pair toured. “And the guy looked at me like I had three heads ... They tried to move to Friendship Village in July 2016, got on a waiting list and paid a $2,000 deposit but were later told they couldn’t because of the “longstanding policy” (one man and one woman).
The Friendship Village website says ...“Guided by Biblical values, continually serve the senior community with quality offerings that promote lifelong well-being.” According to the lawsuit, a letter to Walsh dated July 29, 2016, from Michael Heselbarth, a top administrator with the retirement village, said: “ Your request to share a single unit does not fall within the categories permitted by the long-standing policy of Friendship Village Sunset Hills.”
Friendship Village may be able to deny housing to the Shrewsbury couple because it is a private company, and same-sex couples are not considered a protected class under federal law, said Anders Walker, a constitutional law professor at St. Louis University.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lesbian-couple-denied-housing-in-sunset-hills-senior-living-community/article_0233aeb6-3585-511e-a198-74d7c4c05b36.html
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