25-year-old Jonathan Pretty found a great suite in a house in Kitsilano that met all of his housing needs. He spoke with the landlord Ted Salatellis, got all of the paperwork signed, and even paid the damage deposit to prepare to move in. Then he received a call from Salatellis later that day: because Pretty is gay, he felt that Pretty's boyfriend being around would upset his wife and the families with children next door and upstairs, and therefore could not rent to him. When Pretty asked, explicitly, that he was being denied housing because he was gay, Salatellis said "yes."
Global News interviewed Salatellis himself as a follow up to Pretty's claims to get his side of the story. The man provided a bevy of contradictions, saying that he has no problem with gay people and did not deny Pretty because he was gay, but then also saying:
He say he has a boyfriend, and he come in, well you know boyfriend come in and they kiss each other and people live upstairs and downstairs and I no like that.
He also exposed his ignorance of HIV, fearing that Pretty might have it and that he was scared after having been around guests with HIV at a hotel he used to work at, apparently unaware that HIV is not transmissible via kissing, sharing drinking glasses, or failing to wash one's hands after using the restroom.
Pretty has filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal for violation of Section 10 of The Human Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination based upon race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability and gender or sexual orientation. An unembeddable video interview can be seen on Global News' webpage.
