• by Ray Schultz , July 6, 2023

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) has apparently prevailed in a case it filed in 2022 alleging that Gannett Publishing Co. has published classified ads that discriminated based on membership in a protected class.

This violates the federal Fair Housing Act, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. 

“Publishing advertising that shows an overt or even tacit preference for a person who is not a member of a protected class limits those choices,” said Suzanne Garrow, a lawyer in JALA’s Fair Housing Unit who conducted the investigation.

Garrow added, “We are glad that we could resolve the charge against Gannett. Its newspapers are in 43 states and are national and international, so this resolution has a broad reach.”

Gannett allegedly ran classified ads for rental housing showing a preference based on race, as in “white female seeks roommate” and “white female seeks day working M roommate.” 

Gannett did not respond to a request for comment from the Jacksonville Daily Record, the Record stated. 

JALA stated in a July 6 news release that individuals of similar economic means in the same housing market should have a like range of housing choices available to them regardless of their race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin, according to the Daily Record.