Isn't it a basic right of an owner to rent his property to anyone he likes without explaining the decision (even if the decision is based on racial prejudice)?
- basic right of owner to rent property to anyone he likes without explaining the decision (and not to rent to anyone else...)
- basic right of hotel owner to accept anyone he choses (and deny access to anyone else)
- basic right of restarant manager to accept anyone he chooses (and deny service to anyone else)
- basic right of transportation owner to accept anyone he chooses (and deny service to anyone else)
- basic right of hospital operator to accept anyone he chooses (and deny service to anyone else)
Now pick your minority: it might have been Jews or the Slavic for the Nazis, it might have been the blacks in South Africa -- or the US, or homosexuals in Russia. Or the red-headed, the fat, the old, ...
Once you step onto this path, it's hard to put hard stop someplace
Based off of your opinions in this thread, I highly suggest that you never rent out your property. Your opinions on what the law says will likely end up with you in jail.
Not really. You could define some as basic services and deny discrimination on those. Much like e.g. some basic utilities are already prohibited from cutting off supply to debtors while most businesses can.
I'm not saying I agree with not legislating equal treatment, but the slippery slope is not inevitable.
Likewise, if you own a shop, you cannot refuse entry to your property based on race/ethnicity. You do not have an absolute right to do whatever you want with your property.
Property rights aren't absolute. They certainly don't trump civil rights, and anti-discrimination laws are amongst the core of our civil rights laws.
You do not have "the right" to choose to not rent your property to someone. If you think it's one of your rights, and you're in the property market, you should talk to a lawyer.
You're quite free to believe it's not racist, and that the sky is purple, but the law has different ideas and will act accordingly.
PS a little thought experiment: you're renting an appartment and two people show up - one white and one black, with similar income, jobs and credit history. You have to pick one, so how can you prove your decision was not racist?
Numerous laws will look at an action and your thoughts to decide what crime you were convicted of (e.g. murder vs manslaughter, theft, intent to commit $CRIME, etc.)
You have to pick one, so how can you prove your decision was not racist?
Cripes, simple examples like that aren't what anti-racism laws are for. It's when 10 black people turn up and the landlord tells them the apartment is gone, but it isn't.