Use of the Christian Fish Symbol in Advertising Contested

 

Barbara, a realtor in Ohio, contacted us in early March 2008 regarding a housing discrimination charge filed against her with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. The complaint alleged that Barbara indicated a discriminatory preference for Christians in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act by using the Icthus (Christian fish) symbol underneath her picture in a real estate advertisement.

 

There was no suggestion that Barbara had actually turned away any potential client, buyer, seller, landlord, or tenant due to his or her religion. Rather, the charging party (a housing discrimination watchdog group) filed complaints against her and other Ohio realtors based solely on their inclusion of the Christian fish symbol in advertisements.

 

On March 11, we sent a letter to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission asking that the discrimination charge be dismissed.  We stated that using the Christian fish symbol in a real estate advertisement does not indicate discrimination or a preference based on religion.  It is abundantly clear that the simple message that the Christian fish symbol sends is, I am a Christian, not, I prefer Christians as clients.  To conclude that use of the Christian fish symbol sends the message, I prefer Christians as clients, one would also have to conclude that the realtor would not prefer to have non-Christians as clients.  Such a preference would be severely counter-productive for any real estate company, as the primary function of a realtors advertisement is to attract potential clients, buyers, or renters.  We further argued that such a broad reading of the statute would violate the First Amendment.

 

On March 14, an administrator from the Commission acknowledged receipt of our letter and said that the complaint proceedings would be stayed pending the Commissions review of questions of law presented by our letter.  On April 11, we received a letter from the Commission stating:

 

Charging Party has executed a Withdrawal of Charge Form because they [do] not wish to pursue this matter.

 

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has determined that no purpose would be served by continuing this matter and has entered into its records a finding of WITHDRAWAL OF CHARGE. The matter is CLOSED.

 

The withdrawal of charge is very significant because it is unlikely that the charging party will seek review of the Commissions decision in court.  Also, the Commission had the authority to continue to pursue the charge even after the Withdrawal of Charge Form was filed if the Commission believed the charge was meritorious.

 

Barbara was very pleased with this result.