When Caleb Pheloung signed the lease to rent a room from his landlord, Jenny, he agreed to pay an extra $10 per night for any overnight guests. That probably should have been the first red flag. But hindsight is always 20/20.
“It seemed like everything was fine,” he told his local TV news station in Vancouver.
Until he brought his boyfriend home for a little sleepover. That’s when Jenny had a little breakdown. Pheloung received a series of crazed text messages from her, saying things like, “If you guys are gay I cannot allow this to happen in my house” and that she believes homosexuality is “against God’s will.”
Then she evicted him, citing the conflict with her her good, old-fashioned “Christian values” as the reason.
Here’s the thing, though: In Vancouver, Jenny’s reason for kicking out Pheloung is legally valid. CTV News reports:
Section 10 of the B.C. Human Rights Code states a person can’t deny tenancy to anyone based on their sex or sexual orientation, among other things. But a subsection says the rule doesn’t apply if the space is being shared.
Since Pheloung was only renting a room from Jenny, he fell outside the law’s protection, which means he has no recourse.
“This might be an example where the law and what people think would be right are not necessarily aligned,” Elizabeth Reid, an employment and human rights lawyer, says.
When the news station reached out to Jenny for a comment, she allegedly slammed down the phone on the reporter.
Pheloung says he’s since put the situation behind him and found another place to stay. He hopes by going public with is story, the law might be revised.
“If something like this could impact change, that would be really awesome,” he says.
Related: Couple Can’t Escape Homophobic Landlord From Hell Who Follows Them Everywhere
ChrisK
Well, I think it’s a bit different if you’re living under someone’s roof. What if you found out the guy you rented your bedroom to was a Neo Nazi. If I was the guy I’d be more then willing to pack my bags and get away from this crazy bitch anyways.
Brian
False equivalence. Nazis are not the same as gay people.
batesmotel
Brian failed to dive deeper. “Nazi’s are not the same as gay people.” Duh. But it doesn’t matter. To this hardcore religious woman, a gay person is a Nazi to her, so in that respect it IS the same thing.
alexnsfbay
As a gay man I believe someone’s personal residence should be exempt. I certainly wouldn’t rent a room to zealot religious fanatic or some Neanderthal. If I were a tenant, I wouldn’t rent from some religious bigot.
1898
and the religious fanatic would sue you for discrimination and win. the law is the law. don’t rent rooms in your house if there are huge groups of people you don’t like
PinkoOfTheGange
There is a cutout for personal residents in US rules too. So no one can sue any one and win.
DCguy
Troll alert.
Troll tactic number one, they say things like “As a gay man”.
iggy6666
Seriously, get a new hobby dcguy. According to you everyone’s a troll. Grow up and move on. Your troll/multi user name accusations are getting worn out and overused……..
JohnAGJ
Agreed. It doesn’t change my view that this woman is a bona-fide bitc… guess I’d better not finish that.
batesmotel
I agree to an extent. You may be renting the room, but you are still within the private personal residence of this hardcore religious person. It’s not the same as an apartment lease where you are renting the entire space. He technically should’ve informed her he was gay to make sure she doesn’t have a problem with that. You certainly don’t not say anything and then bring home a man to frolic in bed with. You can’t be that naive.
SactoMan
I’m guessing that the good Christian lady did not refund rents paid….
PinkoOfTheGange
You would be wrong she gave him near two days (one night) to find another situation and refunded all his cash. She was one of the “good” ones
Juanjo
The law in BC is what the law in BC is. Apparently under the law there what she did is legal. Does that make it moral? No. Does it make it ethical? No. This woman has the right to live her life in accord with what she sees as a religious rule. Whether that belief is actually in accord with the religion she claims to follow or not really does not matter.
It does not mean she is free of criticism. Nor should she be free of criticism. If she is truly religious and believes this nonsense then she should have been honest about it and in her adverts made it clear she had this bigoted view of what is Christian behavior.
silveroracle
The fact that she “allegedly slammed the phone down” shows that she had a guilty conscience.
Mike999
Fundie Christians are among the most bigoted, mean and nasty people on earth. They are not Christian, they are fascists hiding behind their twisted beliefs.
Brian
Yup.
alanballs
Amen to that Mike999
Will L
If you are renting a room in someone’s home, this should be discussed completely up front. I rented out a room some years ago, and this was always in my ad. I rented to some cool straight (and gay) guys and there was no problem.
While I abhor right-wing Christian behavior, I have to fault him for being stupid in this case.
batesmotel
Yeah, I agree. I’m sorry it happened to him, but he should’ve disclosed that. If he was in the closet and didn’t matter, then carry on, but he obviously wasn’t in the closet as he brought home another man to his bedroom at her house. I’m surprised he didn’t notice she was a Christian. No bibles or crosses hanging anywhere?
Heywood Jablowme
This was a ROOMMATE situation, not a landlord/tenant situation.
If any of you needed a roommate, would you want a homophobic Christian wacko roommate? You probably wouldn’t.
And yes, this is legal to do in Vancouver and probably all the rest of Canada, and the U.S. too. Except maybe for California which has some really weird laws. (e.g. Jin Yiang & Bachman on “Silicon Valley”).
mc4bbs
Exactly. The headline was deceiving.
If, as a gay couple, I allowed someone to live in my apartment and they turned into a gay-bashing asshole, I’d expect I could tell him to walk too!
PinkoOfTheGange
The roommate rule is nation wide even out here on the left coast.
batesmotel
Yeah, I wouldn’t just rent out a room in my house to anybody. I’d meet with them, get to know them, ask them questions about themselves, which they can ask me as well. That way we’re both in mutual agreement.
[email protected]
He paid her extra so he could have “guests” over, so it is she who is not honoring his rent agreement by throwing him out. I think he has a lawsuit against her.
DCguy
Lets be honest. What the law in Vancouver says is “If it’s a roommate situation you can be a bigot or a racist.”
Heywood Jablowme
Try looking at it this way. Imagine you really need a roommate in DC. But for some reason – wrong time of year, or the room is tiny, or whatever – only one person replies to your ad.
The only applicant is a Bible-thumping intern for a notoriously anti-gay Republican congressman.
Are you a “bigot” if you reject the applicant, and wait for someone more compatible?
DCguy
Under the definition of “Bigot” yes.
Replace Bible Thumper etc… with “Black” or “Asian” and ask the same question.
Then again, it would be easy to get that person not to want the room. Tell them that as an lgbt person you will be having plenty of events with your friends and could they please sign something stating they will not be at all hostile to your friends, and will not say or do anything to make them uncomfortable.
They would refuse to rent. And even if they did, you have that lease hanging over their head.
Heywood Jablowme
um… okay.
Translation = you were a rich kid and you have never had a roommate.
ShowMeGuy
Sad that Canada is starting to act like America.
Alan down in Florida
The thing that gets me is that she negotiated a higher price or overnight stays. It seems to me that she acknowledged that there would be sex occurring and that the genders of the sex partners then makes the whole thing an issue of privacy.
alanballs
I’m grateful that this story has a happy ending…tenant left bigoted, religious terrorist environment and found a new place to live his life (freely).
Daniel-Reader
If he had been straight, she would have had a chance for a threesome but then he turned out not to be, so…he’s kicked to the curb. Remember fornicating outside marriage is forbidden by Christianity but she clearly had no problem with that if she was charging the extra bucks for heterosex-related sleepover buddies. Massive hypocrite, which makes her even less Christian since Jesus condemned hypocrites and pharisees.
MacAdvisor
California is rather weird about this. Essentially, the owner of an owner-occupied, single-family home who rents out a room in his home to a roomer or a boarder, and there are no other roomers or boarders living in the household, the owner is not subject to the Unruh Civil Rights Act baring discrimination. He is free to discriminate against gays, short people, Catholics, whatever.
However — and this is the weird part — he may not ADVERTISE his restriction or preference except for gender. So, he can discriminate, but he can’t tell anyone in advance he’s going to do so.
RamblingManNJ
Was she in the room with them. How does she know that he didn’t have a cousin or a brother over.
seaguy
She is a homophobic bitch. But even if she had not evicted him I doubt he would want to keep living with a homophobic bitch for a roommate/landlord. Now her name is out there so hopefully future renters will be warned to watch out for her homophobic ways.
seaguy
The TV report http://bc.ctvnews.ca/gay-tenant-told-his-boyfriend-can-t-stay-in-vancouver-home-1.3542932
alllowercase
That’s why when I rented from someone I asked them point blank…”Are you okay with renting from a gay man?” Might as well get it out in the open from the beginning.
MR. BULLDOPS
Christians are such jerks
ptb2014
I thought Christian values were Love one another. That is what Jesus is said to have said in answer to the question what is the most important commandment. Clearly this landlady is clearly confusing her values with 4000 year old testament ones that have no place in life today and were actually thrown out by Jesus when he said “it all starts again with me.” I’m am atheist but it seems I know more about Christianity than this bigot.
amigay
I’m sure I read in the Bible somewhere it’s ok to egg the house of an ashole.
dfwenigma
A roommate situation is a difficult one. I rented out space to potential roommates once. It’s tough because it’s a room – mine was with house privileges. I had hoped to find a friend to whom I could rent but that didn’t happen. It’s a home not a separate apartment or rooming house. I guess though were I that woman and were I that biggoted I would probably have made better choices. Likewise as someone said I wouldn’t want to rent to a homophobic biggot. But how do we enable the law such that we’re fair and above board? I don’t have that answer. I feel very badly for the man. I hope he sues but I’m nervous about the standing if this sets further precedent. Does that mean that one could rent to a violent biggot, someone with weapons or a drug dealer – all unknown to the owner of the home?