Women's shelter sued for not taking in biological man

Alaska Daily News

Proponents of Proposition 1, an Anchorage initiative to regulate restrooms, locker rooms and other "intimate facilities" by sex at birth, say a recent discrimination complaint against a downtown shelter for homeless women shows why the measure is necessary.

It's the latest in an ongoing campaign to persuade voters that legal protections for transgender residents in Anchorage's non-discrimination law create safety problems. In this case, questions about what happened at the shelter and how the law applies remain to be answered.

I can certainly see, from a woman's perspective, if you're staying in a shelter like this as refuge from an abusive man, having a man show up demanding entry and the right to stay with you might be traumatizing. Where do feminists stand on this story? According to this article, it's not exclusively a shelter for battered women but some of the women who stay there do fall into that category.

Formerly known as the Downtown Soup Kitchen, the Hope Center is a faith-based nonprofit that offers showers and meals to the homeless, as well as an overnight shelter for homeless women. In 2015, with the Brother Francis Shelter at capacity, the agency opened an overflow night shelter for homeless women. There's a big room with mats where up to 50 homeless women sleep every night. The shelter also serves the women dinner and breakfast.

While this article doesn't say so, I've heard from other reports that the person in question had no medical history of identifying as a woman either. Which could be problematic for the lawsuit, in light of this:

Whether Coyle would meet the city's legal definition for transgender protections was not immediately clear. The law requires the person to prove, through medical history and evidence of care or treatment of their gender identity, that their gender identity is "sincerely held, core to a person's gender-related self identity, and not being asserted for an improper purpose." The Equal Rights Commission typically takes months to investigate complaints.

Reps from the other shelters that do allow transgendered women say it's never been an issue.

Clarkson said allowing a "biological man" into the shelter would traumatize and create safety risks for the women who stay there.

Leaders of Anchorage's other two emergency women's shelters say transgender people have used the facilities for years without problems.

It's not all hearts and roses though:

Clarkson said Coyle had regularly used showers and meal services during the daytime hours without incident.

Adding more ambiguity to his claim:

Voter registration records indicate a person named Timothy Coyle registered as a Republican in April 2016 and listed their sex as "female." There were no voter or Alaska court records for a Samantha Coyle.

And then there's this gem of information.

Coyle came to the Hope Center one evening in late January after being ejected from the nearby Brother Francis Shelter for fighting, according to Clarkson. Clarkson said Coyle was clearly intoxicated and was barred from entering the shelter, which is a sober facility. The shelter gave Coyle money for a cab ride to the emergency room for treatment of injuries from a fight, Clarkson said.

So he's got a criminal record, very recent incidents of violence, very little if any history of identifying as a woman, and showed up drunk. I don't think a woman's shelter should be legally required to take this guy in, given all the circumstances.

I'd like to see a picture of this "woman" - if she has a 5 o' clock shadow, I think it makes a difference.

Of course, a history of violence and showing up drunk would be enough to bar anyone from a shelter, I'd think.

a reply to: face23785

Insanity.

torontosun.com...

Predator who claimed to be transgender declared dangerous offender:

He noted the Montreal man, 37, attacked four vulnerable females between the ages of five and 53 in Montreal and Toronto over the past 12 years.

“He has demonstrated from the age of 12 until the present an inability to control his sexual impulses,” said McMahon.

Hambrook served four years in prison for sexually abusing a five-year-old girl and while on bail for that crime, raping a 27-year-old intellectually-challenged woman in Montreal.

The prosecution asserted Hambrook, a former stripper and escort from Quebec, simply cannot control his deviant sexual urges and that locking him up indefinitely is the best way to protect the public.

Hambrook pleaded guilty in February 2013 to two counts of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment involving two women — a deaf and homeless Quebec woman and a Toronto survivor of domestic violence — while he was living at a Dundas St. W. shelter and the Fred Victor women’s shelter

Sounds like he/she is being a jack*** about the whole situation. This centre obviously helped him/ her when he needed as far as meals and money for the cab.

We start forcing these non profit centres to take whomever ,despite it being an emotional threat to the rest of the clients , we’re going to see more of them shut down, and fewer people , who really care about homeless will be willing to start one up.

LMAO

The law requires the person to prove, through medical history and evidence of care or treatment of their gender identity, that their gender identity is "sincerely held, core to a person's gender-related self identity, and not being asserted for an improper purpose." (Sic)

So one cannot really pick their gender, only the government can approve when you are really transgender...

Person: I am a women.
Government: We don't feel you have tried hard enough or long enough to be a women, so you are still a man

Isn't that policy transphobic, lol

I

a reply to: face23785

Our local shelter has rules.
A person can't be intoxicated/under the influence, must be in by dark, has to help out with cooking, cleaning and all of that and has to attend a service. They house the women and children separately from the men. It didn't read as if this shelter had separate dorms. It seems as if he was refused entry for showing up drunk and being a jerk (did I read that he was banging on the doors?).
It seems as if it is within their guidelines.

He's just a pervert who wants to sneak around a woman's shelter and look at lady bits.

:

a reply to: face23785

"Sorry...this is a women's shelter" is all that should be needed to be said.

The rest is just more logical justification.

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
LMAO

The law requires the person to prove, through medical history and evidence of care or treatment of their gender identity, that their gender identity is "sincerely held, core to a person's gender-related self identity, and not being asserted for an improper purpose." (Sic)

So one cannot really pick their gender, only the government can approve when you are really transgender...

Person: I am a women.
Government: We don't feel you have tried hard enough or long enough to be a women, so you are still a man

Isn't that policy transphobic, lol

I

It doesn't say you have to get approval from the government. It says you have to have some documented history of actually being transgendered.

What do you do when a woman goes to the shelter to get away from her boyfriend who just punched her in the face an hour prior and her boyfriend shows up and says he wants to come in because he's a woman?

You know i've met several transgendered people in person. The last thing they gave the slightest # about was bathrooms.or being allowed in places. They always just seemed more concerned with loving life. On the internet i've interacted with many many 'transgendered' people. They are perverta who get off on being women they babble exclusively about being allowed into places so they can jerk off or just generally get turned on by being around women in the bathroom and #.

The one's I've met in real life seem to really be those people who are genuinely in the wrong body or whatever the #. The don't care about any of this stupid #. The only one's i've ever interacted with that babbled this crap only ever wanted in there to satisfy their fetishes.

originally posted by: dug88
You know i've met several transgendered people in person. The last thing they gave the slightest # about was bathrooms.or being allowed in places. They always just seemed more concerned with loving life. On the internet i've interacted with many many 'transgendered' people. They are perverta who get off on being women they babble exclusively about being allowed into places so they can jerk off or just generally get turned on by being around women in the bathroom and #.

The one's I've met in real life seem to really be those people who are genuinely in the wrong body or whatever the #. The don't care about any of this stupid #. The only one's i've ever interacted with that babbled this crap only ever wanted in there to satisfy their fetishes.

I think most realize that if the biggest example of "oppression" they have is they have to use a urinal because they have a dick, they have life pretty #ing good. There's real, actual oppression in the world, and that's not it.

I would have no problem sharing a shelter with a transgender person. Although it should be determined on a case to case basis. They were absolutely right to turn him away. I think anybody behaving in that manner should be turned away from any shelter for either gender.

I've been in prison with several transgender inmates. Most of them fit in perfectly fine and had model behaviour, however there was one who was pretty big and had a violence problem and beat up several girls, and cracked one of my orbital bones. I now have a slightly visible dent on my cheekbone. It is absolutely case by case but I have no problem with the situation in general.

I doubt this lawsuit will go very far in Alaska anyways haha...

originally posted by: wlasp
I would have no problem sharing a shelter with a transgender person. Although it should be determined on a case to case basis. They were absolutely right to turn him away. I think anybody behaving in that manner should be turned away from any shelter for either gender.

I've been in prison with several transgender inmates. Most of them fit in perfectly fine and had model behaviour, however there was one who was pretty big and had a violence problem and beat up several girls, and cracked one of my orbital bones. I now have a slightly visible dent on my cheekbone. It is absolutely case by case but I have no problem with the situation in general.

I doubt this lawsuit will go very far in Alaska anyways haha...

You'd be surprised. Alaska's politics are more complex than most people give it credit for. I had the same misconception before I got stationed there for two years.

I think a shelter should take in everyone,but if they were chased from their previous shelter for being violent,i think they have made their bed on the streets and should lay on it. Shelters are supposed to be for victims of violence,not proponents of it,not so?

a reply to: Sheye

Wait. Wouldn't the clients be wrong for even viewing her as a man? Doesn't that automatically make them stupid trump supporters? We should probably harass all of the employees and victims at the shelter. It's the liberal way!

originally posted by: katerinaGrace
I think a shelter should take in everyone,but if they were chased from their previous shelter for being violent,i think they have made their bed on the streets and should lay on it. Shelters are supposed to be for victims of violence,not proponents of it,not so?

Some homelesss people won't move into these shelters for fear of having belongings stolen or being physically assaulted. A mat on the floor doesn't seem that secure. But then they also tend to set fire to things either by accident.

The easiest way to solve the problem if the person wins the lawsuit is to just close the shelter. That is what I would do if I were them. If this bothers the organizations around the country, they can reallocate the funds to just feeding the poor and the government can be forced to take over sheltering these people since they made the laws.

a reply to: face23785

Yeah, start letting in homeless men into womens shelters. Great idea.

We are all going to die anyways. Who cares right?

I feel for the plight of the person... I truly do.

But, women who have been biological women their whole life understand the world differently than someone who transitioned. Especially women that have endured an abusive situation or relationship.

Personally, I can’t wrap my head around this situation because I’m personally vested in issues of domestic violence.

Going with my gut and my initial response, I’m not in favor of allowing this...

Judge me

I don’t care. I’m not phobic in any way but you can’t judge me until you know what I’ve been through and how seeing a man or former man in a place specifically designed to protect women not able to protect themselves from the opposite naturally born sex.

a reply to: rickymouse


Really? The women there can't lose that shelter.

Men need to ask the government for their own. ie transgenders etc. The reason they don't is the stats involved. There have been just over 4000 operations to swap sexes done since 2000. This issue is very small percentage and being shoved at majorities nonstop.

Your solution, close the shelter to the women and children! WOW! Give your head a shake. Needed shelter.