Monday, September 21, 2009

Estate agents reprimanded for 'outing' lesbian couple

An estate agent which publicly outed a lesbian couple has been reprimanded by its trade body. Suzanne Richards and Sarah Dobinson (pictured), discovered that the reference used for their property on www.rightmove.co.uk was the word 'lesbians.' The couple felt that "... publicly linking our home address with our sexuality could have ruined our lives."

UK Pink News reports:
Jackson Stops & Staff listed the couple's property on the internet with the reference number replaced by the word 'lesbians'. It has already paid £5,000 in damages to Suzanne Richards and Sarah Dobinson but has now been reprimanded by Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). RICS found that a junior member of staff had placed the word on the listing but said the company had failed to "act with integrity" when the couple complained. READ MORE