The staffer for the homeless shelter didn’t seem to understand Michelle Wang’s explanation why she needed a place to stay.
Wang offered again over the telephone how she had broken up with her girlfriend and moved out of the apartment they shared.
The staffer appeared to become agitated, raised her voice and continued to profess confusion, Wang said.
Finally, Wang blurted out that she was a lesbian. The staffer immediately put her on hold. After a long wait, Wang got the word she feared: There were no beds available. She would have to fend for herself for another night in the unseasonably cold fall weather.
In complaints with city and state officials and in an expected lawsuit, the 27-year-old Wang alleges New Life Interim Housing, a homeless shelter in Rogers Park, discriminated against her on the basis of sexual orientation.
A short time after Wang had been rebuffed by the shelter, the city’s Department of Human Services learned from New Life that it still had two beds available that day, according to John Knight, an attorney for the ACLU of Illinois, which is representing Wang.
“I am disturbed that I was denied shelter, left to the cold and the danger because of something so trivial,” said Wang, now living in a Humboldt Park apartment.
Rev. Bud Ogle, a Presbyterian pastor who co-founded the Christian ministry that runs the New Life shelter in the North Howard Street area, was apologetic for Wang’s troubles but said he believes an inadvertent clerical error was at fault and not any intentional discrimination.
Ogle, who described himself as a lifelong ACLU member, said the shelter’s program manager had committed the last two beds to a family but failed to note that in a bed-count record. Relying on that record, another staffer thought the two beds were still available — until the manager alerted her otherwise in the midst of the interview of Wang. A short time later, the city was incorrectly told there were two beds open by a staffer still relying on the inaccurate bed count record, Ogle said.
But Ogle conceded he was relying on the word of the staffers and didn’t know for sure what happened.
A recent report found an epidemic homeless problem among young lesbians and gays and cited incidents of anti-homosexual harassment at homeless shelters around the country. The study — issued in January by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless — said one Michigan facility required that gay and lesbian youths wear orange jumpsuits to set them apart from others. Many lesbians and gays conceal their sexual orientation from homeless shelters to avoid “potential misunderstanding, abuse and rejection,” the study said.
Wang moved here from Indianapolis last May after her girlfriend was transferred by work. The relationship soured quickly, and Wang moved out in July. Wang had just found a part-time retail job but had no savings — as well as no friends or relatives in the area.
The New Life staffer appeared confused over how Wang became homeless, but Wang said she sensed the staffer understood perfectly but wanted a sanitized version of events. Instead, Wang dropped the “l”-word.
“As much as I wanted a place to sleep, I didn’t want to lie,” Wang said.
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Fast fact
The city said the incident has prompted plans for a mandatory training session on sexual orientation discrimination for shelters funded with tax money. The New Life shelter, which has 30 beds for women and children, receives $150,000 each year from the city.
