WALDOBORO, Maine — The Rockport-based real estate management company that owns the apartment complex knew that a gay couple living there was being harassed and should have done more to take corrective action, according to a 3-1 vote Monday by members of the Maine Human Rights Commission.
Joseph Bonnadio II and William Paquet allege that within two months of moving into the Sproul Block Apartments in January 2009 other tenants were calling them names and telling them “their kind did not belong,” according to their complaint filed with the commission.
Bonnadio and Paquet complained about the hostile housing environment at various times over several months, but the landlord, Realty Resources Management, responded only with a short note, according to the Maine Human Rights Commission’s investigator.
“The name calling that’s going on is very unfortunate. Disputes between neighbors happen from time to time and is not usually a violation of the lease. Therefore, the resolution needs to be achieved by those parties,” Realty Resources Management wrote.
The commission investigator reported that such a response was not enough to comply with state law.
“It is clear that [Realty Resources Management] knew or should have known about the sexual orientation harassment and failed to take any corrective action … as they are required to,” the investigator wrote.
The commissioners voted 3-1 to find reasonable grounds that unlawful discrimination occurred.
In such cases, both parties are encouraged to reconcile and reach a settlement. If conciliation fails, the complainant may file a civil lawsuit in Maine Superior Court, where a binding settlement can include monetary damages.
WTF…..Why are not the people who actually did the harassment responsible? Trial lawyers looking for deep pockets? Tort reform is needed because the party that is actually responsible is not being charged. With this logic, the Fed Government would be responsible my actions. I could do anything, and it would not be my responsibility. Is this the government we want? Sounds like the government we have.
So a landlord is responsible for how the other tenants treat each other? What happens to the people that actually harassed the individual?
Should have been evicted.
Who is responsibile for you??
I have more respect for people that live their lives with the one they love regardless of what they do behind their closed doors, than their neighbors who seem to be unhappy with their own living situation that they feel the need to put down others to solidify their own unhappiness. I have many friends because I allow them to be who they are. Stop worrying about how others choose to live and build a solid foundation for you and your family. Stop the hatred.
Ok, but what ever happened to placing the blame where it belongs, the landlord didn’t do anything, yet he is responsible for the actions of the other tenants. It’s definitely not ok to allow that kind of treatment to continue for anyone no matter what they are being harassed over. Unless the landlord was involved in the ill treatment why is he responsible for the neighbors actions. Where is the accountability?
Wow I will start by saying I lived in tha apt over them in searsport for a yr- before they moved in I spoke to the other tenents in the apt and asked everyone to not judge-and be nice- then the neighbors from hell moved in. I watched them get arrested for fighting , stealing, domestic assault, 11 times cops here serving warrants. they were up all night screaming ,breaking stuff, – then if you so much as look sideways at them they yell Homo phobia big time- they have played this game a long time they are– bad neighbors that happen to be gay- and they use it as a defence everytime they have a problem-which is all the time. they just gamed the system again
That is interesting. I am wondering why the landlord did not evict them. They certainly have good reason to do so.
The Apt manager was 75 yrs old and husband was dieing and she wasn’t doing her job.
Unfortunate that anyone has to live under such harsh conditions, but what, pray tell, is a landlord to do about the tenants who can call names. Seems like government over lording it on the landlord. Aren’t the ones who did the harassment responsible ultimately? This is just plain silly. Can’t say this is what I expect from my government. Oh, I had a clerk call me stupid for selecting the wrong mustard today, wahwah, help me Mr. Obummer………….
Can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
What does that even mean?
Nah, I think it’s more like, if you don’t like my lifestyle, tough, it’s a free country. Why do you think it’s right to harass someone because you disagree with them?> Just mind your own business if you don’t like it.
So now you are not allowed to have an opinion? At least we can still type unrestricted, as of today. Tomorrow may be a different story. I may be telling my grandkids in the distant future what “america” used to be. A country where you could express your thoughts and feelings with no hindrance.
Uhh, I think you must have had trouble reading the article (as did some of the other commenters). It’s not illegal to call someone names, even if it’s directed at their sexuality. No one is claiming that that should be illegal. Verbally harassing someone because their sexuality seems like something only a hate filled, lobotomized kindergarten drop-out would ever feel the need to do, but you’re certainly allowed to do it.
The landlord is being accused of discrimination, for not acting to eliminate a hostile living environment for his tenants. The actual legislation protects employees from bosses who tolerate a hostile work environment, and also tenants whose landlords treat them differently from other tenants in terms of pricing and eviction. http://www.glad.org/rights/maine/c/anti-discrimination-law-in-maine/ It seems like a stretch from this to the idea that landlords should be responsible for the actions of hostile neighbors, so I can’t say I agree that the landlord should be in trouble here. Anyway, I hope that makes the story clearer for you.
I did not need you to clarify anything for me, but thank you just the same. The couple choose to stay where they were. I do not going around saying hello my name is…….I am straight. It seems to me a lot of the Gay community go around announcing hello my name is…….I am Gay. It is almost as though the Gay couple just wanted the attention whether it be negative or positive from this for reasons unknown. It is unfortunate yes that people feel the need to belittle and harass the Gay couple simply because they live a different lifestyle. I live in a foreign country and deal with discrimination everyday because I am not so well at speaking the native tongue. And my customs are different than those that live here. I often get called many different things in english and a few other languages by my neighbors and others. But I do not cry discrimination. I simply choose to go on living my life the way I want because people simply do not affect the way I feel about myself or live my life. I hope one day this couple can be happy just being them and not care what others say to them or about them.
I have never in my life met a gay person or couple who introduced themselves and then proclaimed that they were gay. I have met many who verbally assault those who are gay based purely on assumption.
I
agree with TrueNative. The fact that you’re so attenuated to other
people’s sexuality makes me think that you might have a general problem
with gay people, rather than a specific issue related to this story.
You’ve changed your point from saying that people should be free to call
gay people names (they already are, that was never in question), to
saying that it’s inappropriate to go to authorities when you feel you’re
being discriminated against. That’s a weaker statement, but it also
seems like a seriously unusual one that not many people would agree
with.
I do think it’s immoral for a landlord to ignore harassment like this,
but as I said before, I’m not sure it should be the landlord’s legal
responsibility to make sure tenants aren’t being harassed by their
neighbors, and while the tenants and the rights panel feel differently, I
can’t see that it currently is. I’m not exactly sure what your feeling
about this specific story is, but I think we might agree about that last bit. I
just think you might want to be clear about what important point you’re
making about the story, instead of just picking the anti-gay side
because of your (plainly inaccurate looking) ideas about how gay people
interact with their community.
euroexpat, you may not go around telling people your straight, but if you’re walking down the street holding the hand of your opposite sex significant other, have a picture of your family on your desk at work or bring your significant other with you to social occasions, people can figure it out pretty quickly.
Gay people don’t go around telling people they are gay, but you don’t have to get to know someone all that well before their sexuality becomes apparent, gay or straight, unless you actively try to hide it and lie about it. Fortunately fewer and fewer gay people feel the need to do that these days, and can be proud of their significant others and families just like I hope you are proud of your own family.
Too bad you felt the need to tell us about your discrimination. Why do you go around doing your customs in public? Why do foreigners have to speak with accents?
That’s how you sound.
“america used to be a country where you could express your thoughts and feelings with no hindrance.” Tell them grandkid’s that many folks down south thought nothing of lynching African Americans on slow weekends as a perfect express ion of what they thought and felt “america” was all about. Point is, the wheel grinds slowly, but things change, not always in a negative way, many times in good ways. This HRC just might be a good way, not perfect, but a good way for all of that.
Can’t you all see the pontential for future lawsuits that will surely require high priced lawyers to sort out?
So what is the landlord supposed to do in this situation, evict the offending tenants? Imagine trying to evict a residential tenant in Maine for name calling. Good luck with that!
Exactly. Pretty hard for the landlord to pay his bills if he evicts everyone except the homosexuals. Tough decision for a business man. Do I try and operate the business with the rent from (1) apartment, or try and run it with all the apartments full except (1)?
Maybe the landlord has a family to take care of.
If my neighbors think I am harassing them they can call the cops or take me to court over it. I don’t want some landlord or property manager acting as judge, jury and executioner unless he actually witnesses the rules being violated. I think the vote shows that 3 HRC members need to be replaced. I don’t see why the gay couple couldn’t have gotten an anti harassment order. That would have given the landlord some grounds to take stronger action.
“Homosexuals don’t tell other people what to do”
Yeah, right.
I read your comment 8 times and God help me, I tried to find the point, but I just couldn’t find it.
Me too. It’s kinda scary that a mindset like that is able to vote. Woefully misinformed…
How many times have same sex marriage supporters claimed that the homosexuals don’t tell us what to do?
Probably about 1/100 of the number of times same sex marriage supporters are told what they can’t do. But either way, you said “Homosexuals don’t tell other people what to do” not “Same sex marriage supporters” You’re the one who brought up same sex marriage. What are you afraid that if a court rules that homosexuals are entitled to human rights they might be allowed to do something that goes against something your pastor misinterpreted from the Bible?
Homosexuals and same-sex marriage supporters are one in the same. The point is that they like to claim that they don’t tell anyone else how to live their life, which is a blatent lie. How about this, why don’t we trade my right to discriminate freely for their right to engage in same sex marriages?
Why do you want to discriminate freely? That is an act which harms another. A same sex marriage hurts no one.
It’s my fundamental right to discriminate against anyone for anything on my own property. By now you must not only understand, but aggree with my original post.
It is your fundamental right to discriminate against anyone for anything on your own property, yes, but when you lease your property, there are laws you must follow. For example, if you rent an apartment to me, and you enter without my permission, (excluding an emergency) you are trespassing, despite the fact you own the property.
Liberal politicians in Augusta and a bunch of liberal voters from out of state have no right to tell me who I need to lease my property to. So much for their “live and let live” attitude. That only applies to those of us who disagree with their extreme anti-American agenda.
Yeah run behind radio talk show host ranting when you run out of logical points to make. Look, you have as much right to be a hate filled bigot as anyone else. The plain truth is, everyone is entitled to their opinions, doesn’t make them extreme anti-Americans. You know nothing about anti-discrimination laws, yet you rant as though you do, you know nothing about landlord/tenant laws, yet you rant as though you do. You know nothing about the fundamental precepts of being American, yet you rant as though you do. Scream and shout all you want about liberals ruining your life by allowing people you don’t like having civil rights, you just come off like a klansman. That’s your right. Hide behind red, white, and blue all you want, everyone here sees your true colors.
Perception is everything. In anti bellum America an “extreme anti-American agenda” was freeing the slave and accepting them as fellow Americans as per Declaration of Independence. Garrison burned the Constitution of the 4th of July, 1854 as complicit with slavery and hopelessly corrupt. How you choose to interpret your rights has a lot to do with their validity,unless you are above the rule of law.
Schools are full of stuff that they cram down the kids throat about homosexuality, yet there is none on hetrosexuality.. you are right 100%
What are you even talking about? Like you don’t see straight teachers with photos of their husbands/wifes on their desks. Don’t pull the “cram down” throats thing, because it doesn’t fly. That is unless you don’t mind having double standards.
Please provide examples of how homosexuality is crammed down children’s throats?
I am at a loss for words, which rarely happens. This human rights comission is nothing more than a radical leftist organization.
Thanks for your views on “This human rights commission”. I am curious to discover what your views on” human rights” are? Do you think “humans” have any “rights”? Or is this a “radical leftist” subversive concept used as an excuse to establish these “radical leftist organization(s)”? If you do allow that “humans” do have “rights” then how should they assert them?
Thanks.
Did you read the out come of there decision. They have no authority to impose any monetary reward or make the business to anything. This should have been in a civil court to begin with …which was what the commission states. You need to read up on some of the decisions that come out of this commission. How about the parents of the “transgender” kid that wanted there child to be able to go to the school bathroom of his/her choice. They got called on that one and had to back off their decision.
jim bob a lot of this is taking places you’ve never been before and outside your comfort zone.. Eventually time and tradition will establish the place for a HRC in each jurisdiction. Nobody walks on water here, the HRC , plaintiffs or defendants. Real or perceived abuses , outrageous decisions and good decisions that outrage some will certainly continue, it is inescapable. Your last lists a decisions that was reversed. Are you unhappy with this HRC, or all human rights commissions? A HRC can be a useful tool or an engine for abuse because it has fallible people who sit on it. In my view that still not a good enough reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. These commissions exist because there is a perceived and in many cases urgent need for their services. That fact won’t go away.
………. The point I was making is ” Why was this perceived as a human right issue in the beginning” ……..Maybe this investigator needs some more training to help them understand there actual role in this process. We have a court system to settle civil issues.
Good point, can’t argue with that. It is a possibility for all I know that it wound up before the HRC because the plaintiffs felt they had nothing to loose. The LL seems to have rolled over and played dead, maybe civil authorities were perceived as unhelpful as well. LL’s can’t take an unequivocal stand that activity or social intercourse on their property in not their responsibility. LL’s whose property is adjudged a drug nuisance find themselves in deep stuff with state , local and even federal law enforcement and nobody complains then. I realize crack houses and homophobia are apples and oranges but it make the point that LL’s don’t get to skate on what goes on in their property. Both instances cited have tenants rights violated.
Who is responsibile for you???
My view is that it is not a landlords responsibility to be the human rights police. This had absolutely nothing to do with the landlord.
Why is it a radical leftist idea to be free from harassment?
Another ridiculous Maine law. The police need to stop hate crimes, not business owners.
PEOPLE need to stop hate crimes , no one else.
Sproul Block is section 8 assisted living. More good use of our government’s money…….
And your point is what? I know people in assisted living who appreciate their homes. Find some other issue other than infirmity or poverty to fault people for, would you please?
No one wins in this stuff, what is the landlord to do, go and tell all the people to stop calling each other names? Man this country is just a mess! People hurting or killing each other over religion, boy liking boy, girls liking girls and of course, your gonna die if you get caught outside with those brand new sneakers every one wants! You would think there would be more to do than call someone names and harass them because they love each other!
This is the type of thing you deal with at the fall of any civilization. When we look back into history and laugh at how ignorant the people were to accept the situations they lived in. Think of what our great grandchildren will think of us, for being so violent and intolerant.
What corrective action could be taken? The landlord moves in with the tenants and grounds them or sends them to bed without supper for being uncivil? Get a grip! We have laws against harassment already. Use those!
Apparently being a landlord also means “camp councilor” or “nanny”. The landlord did not discriminate, he let the homosexuals move in, and still he is at fault. No doubt he will be much more selective about who he rents to in the future to avoid this aggravation.
Exactly! Do not rent to gays in the first place if this is what is going to happen to you as a landlord. Why is the landlord suddenly responsible for the attitudes towards gays by the rest of the tenants? Maybe the landlord should have to pay for counseling for all the rest of the tenants until they embrace homosexuality? lol. This same thing happened 50m years ago during desegregation. No one forced the landlords to make their tenants color blind.
This landlord isn’t in any real trouble. That would certainly be the case if he had refused them housing in the first place, and rightfully so.
But I also don’t see how a landlord can be held responsible for mediating between tenants either. That would be like a first grade teacher mediating between a couple of kids fighting. That has no place in the housing market. This couple has other options to try to have a peaceful place to live than getting the ‘teacher’ involved.
50m years ago? Wow I hadn’t thought the struggle had been going on so long.
Big fingers meet little keys on a “smart” phone. Just a typo..
——————————
another example of special rights
Oh please! How does the right to peaceful enjoyment of your home become a ‘special’ right?
It would be simple equality, nothing else.
wrong see below
Anyone would have to admit that your ‘example of special rights’ comment, with no context to put it in, could assume you to be a “Richard Cranium’ too.
See my reply to voiceinacrowd of 3 hrs ago,just above, and all of ftweagles replies to beasty510.
It’s special to be free from harassment?
yes its special to qualify to go to some commission to plead a case. unless you are in some special class you cant go there, instead you have the police or civil court and generally for verbal confrontations they do little good. So absolutely this is an example of special treatment.
if this is section 8 housing then that further explains the “landlords” responsibility. In a non governmental subsidized landlord tenant relationship there is no responsibility for the land lord to deal with such civil issues
Get your facts straight before spewing misinformation. Your behavior is an example of idiocy and this story is not an example of special rights. The classifications in the law are neutral. This means any person has recourse through the Human Rights Commission if they’ve been discriminated against. It’s not for special classes. So once again, it’s not special to be free from harassment.
you are the one who is not being accurate to suffer from discrimination you must be a member of a “protected class”. It is not discriminatory for a heterosexual male or female to harass another of like kind. That is simple harassment .
You weaken your self and you view point by finding it necessary to call names
I’m not calling you names. My problem is that you don’t even have a point because you’re wrong. You are misrepresenting the law and the commission to push your agenda. You’re either a liar or just ignorant of the law. You do not need to be member of a protected class to have recourse through the Human Rights Commission of Maine. You just don’t. The law is neutral and protects us all from discrimination with undue basis.
If a gay employer didn’t hire a qualified straight individual simply due to disdain, they’d have recourse through MHRC. That’s a fact and it’s not an example of special rights.
wow – Maine is an at will state, an employer can choose not to hire anyone for any reason or fire anyone for any reason – unless they are in a protected class and the basis for not hiring or for firing is with discriminatory or other protected intent.
Disdain is not something anyone would have “recourse through MHRC” . If the employer though the employee was being contemptuous he/she could fire them at will – barring any contract provisions
Again you call names and attempt to talk down as if you are the pillar of knowledge , but from what you articulate you do notappear to understand the “laws” you state I do
Special class, suspect class, discrete minorities, etc. those refer to Constitutional claims and specifically the 14th Amendment. You do NOT need to be a member of any particular class to be discriminated against and have recourse through MHRC. That is factually true. MHRC deals with claims “on account of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin”. There is no requirement to b e in particular classes. I can talk down to you all I want, because you’re wrong and you’re spreading misinformation to push an agenda. The law is neutral so quit trying to claim otherwise.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/5/title5ch337sec0.html
Read the law, educate yourself. You have no excuse.
your still wrong – read what you wrote
with claims “on account of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin”.
You must go to them with a claim that you percieve that whatever happened to you was a bias associated with one of these protected classifications.
Quebec for example adds another – Past legal offenses- hows that for liberal
I know anyone can go and be heard, the point is thier is a wrongful bias toward special classes within the classifications.
Male White Irish Protestant naturalized heterosexual Males of normal intelligence dont sho up there much Ill bet.
Read what you wrote: “special rights.” It’s irrelevant who shows up seeking recourse. The fact of the matter is that the law is neutral and available to everyone to use for legal protection if they’ve been wrongfully discriminated against. You can’t deem this special if it is available to all. You can’t claim this is for “protected classes” only. If you’ve been discriminated against on the basis of the listed categories, you have legal recourse through MHRC. That’s not “special rights,” plain and simple.
No one should be harassed for their sexual preference unless it happens to sheep or something like that.
I always though harassment was a matter for the police though. If they were neighbors but owned their own houses, what would they do? Prob call the police.
Landlords are there to provide you with a place to live and fix physical issues, not manage your interactions with others.
The landlord..really….but then again..how does anybody know if the couple is gay? did they announce it? do they flaunt thier love to instigate in public?
flaunt their love to instigate in public. Never held your wife’s hand, or gave her a peck on the cheek in public? Were you flaunting your love? What is it that you’re really afraid of?
What does it matter if people know they’re gay? It’s not a crime to be gay or be committed to someone of the same sex. Don’t blame the victims when they didn’t do anything wrong.
Wow. So a landlord is now the parents of their tenants and responsible for their actions. So why doesn’t every landlord go to jail every time one of their tenants does a crime already. Oh, wait, it only applies to ‘protected status’. My bad.
Hope they appeal this is a bunch of bull.
So people can harass anothe tenant and the Landlord is responsible. Time to get out of the apartment business. It is becoming very clear that this Country is not the Country it use to be and things are getting worse. The tenants should be held rersponsible for what they say and do to others. Making the landlord responsible for what others say and do is not right as long as the landlord has not participated of encourgae that unacceptable behavoir.
Are you kidding?? It’s the landlords fault?Even if it was,how the hell would the lanfdlord prove what was happening,then try to convince a judge that these are grounds for an eviction????Not going to happen,peroid.No judge is going to throw out tenants who might be name calling.
As a landlord, tenant disputes are not my problem; If you can not get along with the neihbors, move! There is nothing I can do if tenants call each other names especially if I did not hear it first hand, when the tenants call me with disputes I tell them all the same thing call the police.I am not your mommie; and last I knew this was Omerica land of the free; free speech, etc.
So Maines rights panel needs to go, also… appointed by Baldacci I’m sure.. Making Landlords responsibile for Adult tenants is absurd… Next they will be making car Dealers responsible for the people they sell cars to… Or Schools responsibile for the students that passed through their school for the rest of their lives… See the Stupitity here.
Efforts to establish a flooring of basic human rights in and for citizens of local communities are subject to judicial review and have not yet been deemed un-American or unconstitutional to my knowledge. Allegations of absurdity, and stupidity, political demonization and off kilter analogies are lots of fun though. Who was that turkey who asked “Am I my brothers keeper?”
This organization is a joke…I have yet to hear of a case where they didn’t deem the defendent guilty.
Lawyers see the $$$$$$ in playing the sex card
How aboutq the names of THE PEOPLE that make up the reality management group. Come on BDN ! Get with it.
Told you that referendum really meant special rights for perverts.
So now it’s special to be free from harassment? You’re a bigot.
What if you had a bone fide sex offender move in , are they allowed to live harassment free ? Just wondering.
Not the same thing. Not relevant.
What if it was a homosexual sex offender?
It would still not be relevant. It would still not be the same thing.
I know it wouldn’t be exactly the same thing, but would it be ok for other tenants to tell homosexual sex offender tenants that “their kind did not belong” and to call them names as long as they emphasized the sex offender part over the homosexual part?
The actions of the tenants are reprehensible however I fail to see why the landlord should be legally responsible. Morally perhaps he had a responsibility to do more, however legislating morality is a slippery slope I don’t think many of us want to stand on.
dosent mention a thing about the police being called for being verbally assulted…” hey honey… lets let this go on awhile… remember that trip to vegas we wanted to go on but we never had the money”….. sorry it’s what it sounds like to me.
Gay or straight, I would not want to live in an area where I knew I wasn’t wanted. It is a free country, but prejudice is something all people will never be free of. I know nothing about Waldoboro except that it is a small town. Sometimes small towns are very hard to live in for people that may live differently than what is perceived to be “the norm”. Small minds will never “live and let live.”
Have not heard that one since my army days.
You must’ve just got out. :)
As a landlord, what this tells me is that I better not rent to a gay couple or I risk being sued for the actions of others. It’s the same reason I should not hire or rent to minorities. Liberals fail to see the real consequences of their actions meant to protect certain segments of society.
Being gay or being a minority isn’t the issue. The issue is not doing enough about harassment. What this panel’s determination should tell you is not to ignore harassment going on in your buildings. Obviously.
Its hard to evict a tenant, you can’t do it on hearsay, you’d be thrown out of eviction court real fast!!!
Police need to be responsible for this, not landlords.
Most leases prohibit certain behaviors and it is normally mentioned in the lease that all tenants have the right to quiet enjoyment. If certain tenants are bully’s then the management should have called them and sent letters to those that were doing this. If they continued, they have a right to evict them. Some tenants like to make the rules, telling people where to park when there is no assigned parking in addition to watching every move that goes on. I lived in an apartment complex where one old man was using binoculars looking around and saw his neighbor in the building across from him using binoculars to look at him. Sort of ironic.
Just what did the Human Rights Commission want the owner to do?
There’s nothing specific mentioned in the news article. Short of trying to evict the offending tenants – and eviction proceedings against residential tenants can be very difficult – I don’t think there’s much the landlord can do except encourage the tenants not to say or do anything towards the homosexual tenants that might be considered harassment. And if the tenants objected to that, the landlord could request that any such offensive conduct take place away from the premises. You never know how far a governmental agency will go, but I think it would be a real stretch for the HRC to hold the landlord responsible for the actions of a tenant that take place away from the leased property.
A lot of people fail to appreciate the responsibilities one undertakes when leasing an apartment or a building to others.
A lease, despite landlord attempts to avoid them, creates obligations on the part of the landlord as well as the tenant. Even without a written lease, if I take a tenant’s money in exchange for occupancy I have responsibilities.
As an owner, I undertake an affirmative obligation to provide certain things to the people who are paying me for the right to live there. One of those is the duty to assure their peaceful enjoyment of the premises. Another is to be aware of and observant of laws regarding rights of individuals.
If another of my tenants is interfering with those rights, I must take steps to remedy the situation. It’s not enough to say, “I’m not getting involved. It’s between you two.” As a landlord, I am involved because someone is paying me to be involved and I’ve agreed to it by taking their money and granting them occupancy.
Ultimately, of course, police may need to become engaged and courts may need to adjudicate things; however, the responsibility in the first instance is mine.
By the way, in response to TAG (below) refusal to rent to “certain segments of society” could land you in a big load of trouble and your narrow-minded bigotry won’t do you a damn bit of good if it does.