Promoting Home Ownership within the LGBTQ+ Community
(January 11, 2021) – Ohio REALTORS® has become one of the first state REALTOR groups to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance to promote homeownership within the LGBTQ+ community. The agreement calls for joint efforts to share with real estate professionals the challenges LGBTQ+ homebuyers face, including discrimination, on their journey to homeownership, while promoting an understanding of the cultural nuances involved in working closely with the diverse LGBTQ+ community.
Ohio REALTORS joins the Missouri Association of REALTORS as the first state associations to sign agreements with the Alliance. Ohio REALTORS plans to work closely with local REALTOR groups within the state to promote Alliance membership and chapter meetings while also hosting a series of initiatives and educational programs for its members.
“The Ohio REALTORS has been a proponent of the LGBTQ+ community for years. It was the first state organization in the industry to offer members a continuing education program allowing them to learn how to best work with LGBTQ+ home buyers and sellers,” said Ryan Weyandt, CEO of the LBGTQ+ Real Estate Alliance. “We have strengthened that course and are rolling it out nationally to help educate REALTORS and assist them in removing unconscious bias against our community. Having Ohio REALTORS formally engage with us as a partner means a lot to the Alliance and we hope to utilize their involvement as a model for others.”
Weyandt pointed out that while Ohio remains one of 27 states that currently does not protect the LGBTQ+ community from housing discrimination, Ohio REALTORS is committed to working closely with the Alliance to raise awareness and allow sexual orientation and gender identity to be protected classes in fair housing law.
“Ohio REALTORS is pleased to join forces with the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, strengthening our profession’s ongoing commitment to helping make homeownership happen for all Ohioans,” said Scott Williams, CEO of Ohio REALTORS. “On behalf of our Leadership Team, headed by President Seth Task, and our entire Ohio REALTOR family living and working in every community throughout the state, we are proud to stand as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Ohio REALTORS, with more than 35,000 members, is the state’s largest professional trade association. The organization, formed in 1910, is comprised of real estate professionals who have joined the local, state and national associations of REALTORS and agreed to abide by the National Association of REALTORS’ stringent Code of Ethics.
The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance was founded in June 2020 as an all-inclusive organization dedicated to empowering the LGBTQ+ community on the path to homeownership. The Alliance has more than 70 chapters in the United States and Puerto Rico.
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