to rent to gay-affirming congregation
Issue stems from refusal
to rent to gay-affirming congregation
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer
WOODBRIDGE — The real estate office representing a Woodbridge church accused of discriminatory practices has dropped the church as its client, the Realtor’s broker said last week.
Jeffrey Meisner, broker of Barron Realty, Woodbridge, said last week that he was in the process of terminating a contract with the First Congregational Church of Woodbridge (FCC), a United Church of Christ.
"The most appropriate action is to withdraw the listing," he said. "The last thing I want is to be associated with practices such as discrimination."
The FCC’s congregation last month voted to refuse to rent its church basement at 539 Barron Ave. to the North Brunswick-based, 80-member Metropolitan Community Church of Christ the Liberator (MCC/CTL), a gay-affirming church, because its members were predominantly gay, the FCC’s pastor, the Rev. L.L. DuBreuil has said.
DuBreuil said she was saddened that the majority of her congregation voted against renting to MCC/CTL.
She said not all of the congregation was opposed to welcoming the gay-affirming church.
"The traditionalists got to the people who voted," DuBreuil said. "The trustees are very conservative, and they started the issue rolling."
"They were afraid we would conduct [gay, lesbian, transgendered or bisexual] commitment ceremonies," the Rev. Durrell Watkins of the MCC/CTL has said. "And we absolutely would."
Although churches are not bound by anti-discrimination laws, Realtors are, said William K. Heine, spokesman for the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance’s real estate commission.
A Realtor who continues to knowingly represent a client who practices discrimination may face sanctions from warnings to fines depending on the case, Heine said.
Sandy Meisner, FCC’s Realtor, said she attended the meeting where First Congregational Church members told MCC/CTL congregants that some members of the FCC’s congregation "opposed" renting its basement to a gay-affirming church.
"We had no knowledge as to what the discriminations were," Jeffrey Meisner said.
When Meisner was asked why he did not immediately withdraw the listing from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) — a register of listings through state-licensed Realtors — when he found the church was using discriminatory practices, Meisner said he did not know.
"Actually, it was not clear what their intention was with the rental," he said. "It was just timing and politics. I don’t have an answer."
Meisner said he was waiting for First Congregational Church members to sign the necessary paperwork to terminate the contract.
Church and state matters are a gray area when it comes to the law, he said.
"But I can’t represent them if [discrimination is] a practice of theirs," he said.
"I did provide [the First Congregational Church] with a copy of discrimination guidelines through the MLS and the New Jersey Board of Realtors," Meisner added.
DuBreuil said the majority of the First Congregational Church congregation who participates in church activities welcomed the MCC/CTL.
"We have a young [gay] couple who comes here, and [after the vote] they were feeling anything other than love," she said.
After three years of searching for a basement renter, DuBreuil said the First Congregational Church may have to begin cutting programs to survive.
"The flip side of this is that the church needs the money," she said. "This is very painful for us. We pray we will have the money to continue. The church may wind up re-visioning itself. We may have to make staff cuts."