Landlords are discriminating against porn stars. Is it legal?

Adult film actresses say they face backlash over their career choice

Aurora Snow and apartments in the San Fernando Valley (credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Aurora Snow and apartments in the San Fernando Valley (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Adult film stars say they often get screwed when it comes to finding housing.

Adult-film actress Aurora Snow claims she and others face discrimination from landlords due to their line of work, Inman reported.

“I was young, had great credit and plenty of money, and had even agreed to put down three times the deposit,” Snow wrote in an op-ed for the The Daily Beast. “But it wasn’t enough. He grilled me about my employers in person, demanded to know why I did ‘it,’ and wanted to know how I could ‘live with myself.’”

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Dani Vespoli, a 15-year veteran of the adult film industry, said her landlord altered here lease to make sure no adult content would be filmed in her home. And dominatrix Evelyn Milano said that when it came time to sell her home, the buyer insisted on a reduction because Milano had filmed adult videos there.

“People have sex in houses all the time, how is that any different than porn?” Milano asked.

Katie Johnson, general counsel for the National Association of Realtors, said the 1968 Fair Housing Act “protects individuals from discrimination based on seven identified classes, and occupation is not currently among the list of protected classes.” [Inman] Rich Bockmann