AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission voted Monday unanimously to find that a Winthrop couple discriminated against a former tenant based on his religion.
Mark and Michelle Fortin evicted the man, who is Black and Jewish, from the apartment they own on Metcalf Road in Winthrop in March. The eviction came after they demanded he remove a mezuzah from his front door, according to a report to the commission.
A mezuzah is a parchment inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah and encased in a small, decorative case.
The tenant had lived in the apartment since June 2020 and placed the mezuzah on his apartment door in February 2021. The owners demanded he remove it two months later, according to an Aug. 18 report filed by the investigator.
When the tenant refused, telling the Fortins the mezuzah is a symbol of his faith, the Fortins served him with a breach of lease, terminated his lease, and, during a final walkthrough of the apartment, called the police to monitor him, according to the report.
The Fortins told the investigator they terminated the man's lease because he screwed a metal object into a doorframe in violation of his lease and refused repeated requests to remove a trailer they allowed him to park on the property temporarily. They said when he finally moved it in March, he caused significant damage to the property.
Michelle Fortin told NEWS CENTER Maine in October she disputed the report, and she denied there had been any eviction.
"The mezuzah and the damage to the doorframe is truly trivial," Commissioner Edward David said Monday, prior to the unanimous vote. "I agree that that became part of the motivation and that they ... thought that that confirmed their ability to end this tenancy by saying, 'Oh, that's another violation, and you should be out immediately,' and that—the motivation for doing that—was an impermissible basis on religion."
As is standard, the MHRC will invite Selassie and Fortins to try to resolve the dispute through conciliation, MHRC Executive Director Amy Sneirson said. If a settlement cannot be reached, Selassie can sue in superior court.
