FFLC Defends Pastor on Charge of “Hate Speech”
Wilson Fauber has faithfully served his community as a real estate agent and broker for over 40 years, always treating every client with the utmost care and respect. Like most real estate agents, Fauber is a “Realtor” – a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and has held this membership throughout his career. He is also an ordained minister who, in his personal life, has made statements about the Bible’s view on marriage and sexuality. But for that “offense,” Fauber now faces professional ethics charges and could even lose his Realtor status. The Founding Freedoms Law Center has teamed up with local Staunton attorney, Scott Alleman, to defend Fauber’s reputation and his livelihood.
The effort to harm and cancel Fauber started when he sought to serve the City of Staunton by running for City Council in 2023. Political opponents started digging for any “dirt” they could find on him, when they stumbled upon a statement he made on his personal Facebook page in 2015—the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court would vote 5-4 to unilaterally redefine marriage and impose it on all 50 states. Fauber’s post emphasized the Bible’s definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman (which, by the way, was also the law at the time he posted it). The post was not directed at any particular individual. It simply stated Biblical truths. Nonetheless, political opponents sent that post to a local reporter, who pressed Fauber about whether he had changed his views. But Fauber stood firm, explaining that his belief in the Bible was unchanged.
That was all it took to create a problem for his professional status. An ethics charge was filed against Fauber for making that statement that also cited a more recent post where Fauber had criticized how female athletes were being physically injured by male athletes claiming to be girls. Earlier this year, disciplinary officials connected to NAR decided that Fauber’s statements may have violated the NAR’s rules against “hate speech.” This is so because, in 2020, NAR adopted a new provision that prohibits so-called “hate speech” on the basis of certain characteristics, including “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Now, Fauber is required to formally defend himself in an ethics hearing to seek to avoid possible discipline, monetary penalties, or even the loss of his Realtor status altogether.
Apparently quoting the truth of the Bible is now enough to trigger a formal ethics hearing that could ruin a real estate agent’s career. In reality, “hate speech” is nothing more than an Orwellian device used to silence others. Ironically, rules and regulations like these are put in place to hate and harm individuals with disfavored viewpoints.
But to Fauber, sharing Biblical truths is the most loving thing he could do. It’s the exact opposite of hate. And in his 40 year career, no one has ever claimed that Fauber treated any of his clients any differently regardless of their background or viewpoint. Indeed, for anyone who spends any amount of time with him, his sincere care for all is evident.
Fauber is not the only Realtor to have experienced this kind of mistreatment because of his faith. Others have endured similar circumstances, such as a pastor and Realtor in Montana who, in 2021, made Biblically-based statements about human sexuality. For those statements, his Realtor association found him guilty of “hate speech.” And after being unwilling to pay the fines imposed against him, his association stripped him of his Realtor status completely.
It is important to understand that, without the status of Realtor, a person’s ability to make a living as a real estate agent is dramatically diminished because, in most cases, a real estate agent must be a member of NAR to access the Multiple Listing Service—a critical tool that real estate agents use when listing and showing properties to clients. So, for nearly all real estate agents, losing their Realtor status is a career-ending proposition.
Meanwhile, there are likely many others like Fauber that we just don’t know about, because NAR’s membership contract requires confidentiality for anything that is said or determined during or as a result of any ethics hearing. Hence, if they discipline you in any way, you are gagged. That is why Fauber has courageously chosen to tell his story now, before his ethics hearing in December. He hopes to make others aware of what is happening to Christians like him in the real estate profession.
The Founding Freedoms Law Center will be providing Fauber with a robust defense, at no cost to him. Hopefully, the Realtor ethics panel will see this politically-motivated attack for what it is—an ill‑conceived assault on Fauber’s faith—and on the truth itself. We ask for your prayers for our team and for Wilson Fauber as we seek his full vindication.