Wilson Fauber has been a well-respected real estate agent and broker in the Staunton, Virginia, area for 44 years, with no professional complaints ever filed against him. That is, until 2024, following an aggressive initiative by a political opposition group intent on damaging Fauber’s reputation by targeting his Christian beliefs.
“In 2015, I posted Biblical quotes on my personal Facebook page,” Fauber said. “Around the same time, Rev. Franklin Graham had created a post and I re-posted with some additions for emphasis,” said Fauber, who is also an ordained minister. “The post thread contained Bible references and explanations from a minister’s perspective.”
The quotes, posted on behalf of Arise International Ministries from Fauber’s personal Facebook page, emphasized the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. They were made before the Supreme Court had decided or heard oral arguments regarding same-sex marriage in 2015 — meaning that at that time, under law, marriage was between and man and a woman — and well before the National Association of Realtors (NAR) amended its ethics code language regarding hate speech.
Fauber knows of no complaints or claimed offense regarding his posts, until 2023, when he chose to run for Staunton City Council. Coining Fauber “the Hater,” an opposition group targeted his biblical beliefs. The group’s slander caught the attention of the NAR, of which Fauber is a longtime member.
In 2020, the NAR adopted a new amendment to its code of ethics. Standard of Practice 10-5 compels realtors to avoid the use of “harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” Suddenly,........