To celebrate Pride Month, the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals (NAGLREP) will be marching in this year’s WorldPride event in New York.
The WorldPride NYC event, which will take place on June 30 and follow a march route through Manhattan, is marking the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a series of gay rights demonstrations on June 28, 1969 that were met with police and gave birth to the LGBTQ movement.
While New York has an iconic Pride march every June, the city has been selected as the host of the worldwide celebration this year.
“This year is definitely special,” Jeff Berger, NAGLREP founder and Florida Realtor, told Inman. “The 50th commemoration of the Stonewall Riots has brought WorldPride to the U.S. for the first time, and we will be among 115,000 other marchers with 4.5 million expected to attend. It will be very emotional moment when we make the left onto Christopher Street and pass by the Stonewall Inn.”
NAGLREP members who march will, according to Berger, be drawing attention to the various issues that LGBTQ real estate professionals, homebuyers and renters face when it comes to housing.
According to a March report by NAGLREP, 46 percent of all LGBTQ renters across the U.S. fear discrimination from neighbors, agents and sellers. And though many agents reported that more and more LGBTQ couples are buying houses after same-sex marriage became legal in the country in 2015, members of the community still face various kinds of housing discrimination.
“We hope to continue showcase that sexual orientation and gender identity are still not protected classes under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and how housing discrimination is impacting the LGBTQ community as our homeownership rates are 49 percent compared to the national average of 64 percent,” Berger said.
Along with the New York event, NAGLREP members will be participating in various events across the country throughout the month of June.
These include a march with the Greater L.A. Association of Realtors in the city’s Pride event on June 9, a lunch and learn about various LGBTQ issues for the Miami Association of Realtors on June 11 and a networking dinner in Boston on June 26.
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