Major Win for Realtor Free Speech!
Our legal team just secured a major victory for our Realtor client, Wilson Fauber, who faced another round of ethics charges of “hate speech” for posting religious commentary about LGBTQ issues on his personal Facebook page. The Realtor ethics panel has made its decision in this second “ethics” case, but this time it rightly determined that Wilson was not guilty of hate speech!
Wilson Fauber, an ordained minister, was found guilty in December on essentially the same charges, based on complaints made by the same individuals. As punishment, he was fined and required to undergo what amounted to “re-education training,” presumably to rid him of his Christian beliefs. But after mounting pressure, thanks in part to our exposure of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Virginia Association of Realtors (VAR), the NAR met recently in Washington D.C. and voted to change its hate speech rule to clarify that it only applied to Realtors’ speech made in their professional – not personal – capacity.
This most recent VAR ethics panel decision finding no hate speech violation is a strong signal to all 1.5 million Realtors that the association’s ‘reign of terror’ against personal free speech is over. (At least we hope.)
However, unfortunately, that is not the whole story for Wilson…
While the ethics panel did determine Wilson was not guilty of hateful or harassing speech, they again determined him to be guilty on a separate charge –violating NAR’s strict ‘gag rule’ whereby they claim that no Realtor is allowed to speak about any ethics charges, hearings, or decisions against them. For simply telling the world what the NAR and VAR were doing to him unfairly, Wilson is now being subjected to hefty fines. But worse, they said if he does not pay them within 30 days, he will be stripped of his Realtor membership indefinitely.
Needless to say, the woke leadership of NAR and VAR clearly want to get rid of Wilson, despite conceding a major victory on the issue of hate speech. Our legal team has already initiated an appeal.
Ultimately, while we are glad that NAR and VAR made some corrective moves on their hate speech rule, they still have not corrected their actions from their December ruling against Wilson, and they are still doubling down against him by effectively kicking him out of the profession for blowing the whistle on their illegitimate punishment of his religious speech.
Thankfully, in another recent development, we have confirmed that the Trump Department of Justice has now launched a formal investigation into VAR and NAR for their use of their rules to penalize the expression of religious viewpoints, including their actions against Wilson. We look forward to working with the DOJ to hopefully get full justice for Wilson and all members of Realtor who have experienced similar treatment.