Conducting the first study of its kind, the Department of Housing and Urban Development studied 50 metropolitan markets from June to October 2011 and concluded that same-sex couples were “significantly less likely than heterosexual couples to get favorable responses to e-mail inquiries about electronically advertised rental housing.”

More specifically, “heterosexual couples were favored over gay male couples in 15.9% of tests and over lesbian couples in 15.6% of tests,” writes MSNBC.