I agree with this one 100%. If you pay money then it effectively becomes YOUR property (as far as your living space goes). And if the courts don't see it this way then its time to pass a law that bans discrimination of this sort.
Um. If you rent, it does not become your property. The courts don't currently see it this way.
In addition, if someone owns a place, and you want to rent it, they can set conditions on that rental. If you sign the contract that contains those conditions, then (by contract) you are agreeing to those conditions. If you decide later to do whatever you like, you have failed to meet the conditions of the contract.
Whether I agree with this doesn't change the fact that this is how the courts see it.
If a landlord decides no pets, no guns, and no children, and the contract you sign stipulates those things, after which you decide to have a 50bmg on your front lawn as your kids play with your dogs, then you are in breach of that contract, and subject to its penalties, which may include eviction depending on the circumstances.
If you didn't like the stipulated requirements, you shouldn't have signed the contract.
I realize that from a civil rights perspective this is different than the way discrimination is handled for any other civil right---probably because the people arguing for it can make a differentiation between a person having various qualities, and a person owning various objects. Plus, one is based on the constitution, and one is based on federal laws---and apparently lots of people ignore the constitution when making laws.
However---doesn't change the fact that currently, an owner of a particular place can legally place stipulations in the contract for rental of that place regarding what may or may not be allowed.
It is an interesting point, though---under what circumstances can any group or person make laws or rules that go against the requirements of the constitution? One could argue (and I hate this argument, but it has a point) that the constitution is a written check on the federal government, and through it, on state governments---but it says nothing about how members of the public must treat each other.
We didn't have any of those checks on the public until the civil rights act of 64, correct? And that act doesn't say anything about guns.