And you thought it was your room.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Roommate.com - Brief article

Is it legal for a roommate locator service to match up customers according to their mutual preferences: male or female, gay or straight, have children or childless? Probably not, according to a recent Federal appellate court decision in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com, as the Federal Fair Housing Act and a similar California law ban discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or marital status in housing transactions.

"This lawsuit attacks individual liberty in a particularly sensitive area," notes Thomas Bowden, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, Irvine, Calif. "Adults who contemplate sharing living spaces should have absolute contractual freedom to use a roommate-matching service that treats their own individual preferences as paramount.

"It's perfectly obvious that an incompatible roommate can make life miserable, as anyone who has occupied a freshman dorm room can testify. People should not have to get government permission to arrange their private affairs...