人物:同性恋入住老年公寓被拒

 Couple Sues Retirement¹ Village Denied Housing for Being Gay? 一对伴侣起诉退休村因同性恋拒绝提供住宿？

Mary Walsh and Bev Nance² were rejected by a senior-living community outside St. Louis. Now the married couple is suing for discrimination. 玛丽·沃尔什(Mary Walsh)和贝弗·南斯(Bev Nance)被圣路易斯郊外的一个老年社区拒绝。现在这对伴侣正在起诉老年社区歧视。

For Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, the Friendship Village retirement community near St. Louis seemed like the perfect place to spend their golden years. 对68岁的贝弗·南斯和72岁的玛丽·沃尔什来说，圣路易斯附近的友谊村老年社区似乎是她们度过黄金岁月的最佳地点。

Nance was excited about the on site exercise classes and choral group while Walsh looked forward to organizing some regular bridge games. 南斯非常喜欢现场练习课和合唱小组，沃尔什则期待着定期组织一些桥牌比赛。

"We talked about it and agreed that it made a lot of sense," says Walsh, a retired³ phone-company manager who, along with Nance, a former teacher, is a native St. Louisan. “我们聊过很多这些，都觉得这很有意义。”沃尔什说。她退休前是电话公司的一名经理，南斯(Nance)做过教师，她们都是圣路易斯本地人。

But in July 2016, three days after the couple had made a $2,000 deposit for a two-bedroom unit, the women say they got a call from the marketing⁴ director at Friendship Village. 但这两位女士说，在2016年7月，这对夫妇花了2000美元订金定下一套两居室公寓的三天后，她们接到了友谊村(Friendship Village)营销总监的电话。

"Her first question was, 'What's yours and Bev's relationship?'" says Walsh, who explained the couple had wed⁵ in June 2009 after 31 years together. “她的第一个问题是，‘你和贝弗是什么关系？’”沃尔什解释说，她们在一起31年后，于2009年6月结婚。

"She said, 'Well, I think there may be a problem.'" “她说，‘嗯，我觉得可能有问题。’”

Four days later the privately⁶ owned company rejected their application, claiming the couple's legal union violated the community's cohabitation policy—which reads, in part, "The term 'marriage'... means the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible." 四天后，这家私营公司拒绝了他们的申请，声称这对夫妇的合法婚姻违反了社区的同居政策，该政策有一部分表示，“‘婚姻’这个词，意思是一个男人和一个女人的结合，就像圣经中的婚姻一样。”

"I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach," says Walsh. 沃尔什说:“我感觉我的胃被踢了一脚。”

On July 25 Walsh and Nance kicked back, suing Friendship Village for housing discrimination. 7月25日，沃尔什和南斯反唇相讥，以住房歧视为由起诉友谊村。

"If either of them were married to a man instead of a woman, this never would have happened," says their attorney Julie Wilensky. 她们的律师朱莉·维伦斯基说：“如果他们中的任何一个人嫁给了一个男人而不是一个女人，这一切都不会发生。”

"No one should be denied housing simply because of who they are." “任何人都不应该仅仅因为自己的身份就被拒之门外。”

The case gained national attention after Bravo's Andy Cohen tweeted that Nance—his high school pre-algebra teacher—"deserves better. We all do!" 精彩电视台（Bravo）的安迪·科恩(Andy Cohen)在推特上表示，他的高中初级代数老师南斯“理应得到更好的待遇。我们都应当如此！”自此这件事引起了全国范围内的关注。

While the Friendship Village board has yet to file a legal response—telling People in a statement, "We are prayerfully and thoughtfully reviewing this issue"—Walsh and Nance still hope to move into the 450-resident community. 虽然友谊村委员会还没有发声明作出法律回应，他们在接受《人物》杂志采访时表示，“我们正在虔诚地、深思熟虑地审查这个问题”——沃尔什和南斯仍然希望能够入住这个有着450个居民的社区。

"We've been with non-gay people all of our lives," says Walsh. "If they hadn't brought this up, I think we would have gotten along just fine there." 沃尔什说:“我们一生都在和非同性恋者打交道。”“如果他们没有提出这个问题，我想我们在那里会过得很好。”

1 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

2 nance   

n.娘娘腔的男人，男同性恋者

参考例句：

• I think he's an awful nance.我觉得他这个人太娘娘腔了。
• He doesn't like to be called a nance.他不喜欢被叫做娘娘腔。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

5 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

6 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。