Property and the LGBTQ Community: The U.S. Example

Abstract

In the United States, the LGBTQ rights movement has long fought for visibility, recognition, and the type of dignity that comes from living an authentic life. Advocates have advanced these goals by appealing to widely shared norms of equality and liberty, but many of these claims actually involve property rights. They challenge who is eligible to acquire certain property (e.g., marriage equality). They also explore the tension between the right of access and the right to exclude in public accommodations, housing, employment, and education. The prevalence of property-based claims illustrates the material impact of discrimination and how property law has mediated and enforced the subordination of LGBTQ individuals. This chapter examines three pivotal LGBTQ victories declassification, antidiscrimination laws, and marriage equality through a property lens. It concludes that expanded access to property rights functions as an anti-subordination measure that, in turn, serves to further broader equality and liberty objectives.

Keywords: LGBTQ, LGBTQ rights, marriage equality, sexual orientation, gender identity, Obergefell v. Hodges, Bostock v. Clayton County