BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) | A small study suggests that transgender residents face high levels of discrimination while looking for housing in North Dakota.
The nonprofit High Plains Fair Housing Council conducted the study in anticipation that legislators would consider banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Similar proposals have failed in several previous legislative sessions.
The organization’s executive director, Michelle Rydz, tells The Bismarck Tribune that lawmakers have said there “wasn’t any evidence, they didn’t see that this was a problem.”
The nonprofit conducted 15 tests to see if transgender residents were treated differently in Fargo, Grand Forks, Valley City and Jamestown.
The organization says 80 percent of transgender participants were shown fewer or inferior units than the control group. Seventy percent said they experienced subtle forms of discrimination.
