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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2008)
16 justput JUNE 13, 2008 jnorthwest Gimme Shelter No protection from trans discrimination by Jacob Anderson-Minshall ueer community leaders were stunned According to last month’s BOLI “Notice last month when the Oregon Bureau of Substantial Evidence Determination,” ex of Labor and Industries (BOLI) ecutive director Karla McFarland acknowledged determined that there was substantial that Bradley-Angle House referred transgender evidence that the domestic violence survivors elsewhere. BOLI’s investigator also shelter Bradley-Angle House discriminated established that the shelter “has a policy which against bi-gendered client Lee (Lisa) Iacuzzi. requires its residents to identify as female while “It’s kind of surprising,” admits Jonathan staying at the shelter, regardless of the resident’s Weedman, Sexual Minority Youth Resource actual gender identity.” Center’s outgoing executive director. “Bradley- “Having a policy that says you must identify as Angle... was the only queer-specific resource [for this gender...is akin to saying no disabled people domestic violence survivors] I even knew of.” allowed.. .no black people allowed,” says Matthew The first battered women’s shelter on the West Ellis of Kell, Alterman & Runstein, the law firm Coast, Bradley-Angle House was founded in 1975, that represents Iacuzzi in an associated civil suit. when domestic violence was barely acknowledged Ellis adds that Bradley-Angle housed Iacuzzi in a and far from understood. In the three decades since, utility closet on a separate floor from the other the shelter has become a vital community resource. residents. “1 think that was [them] being sensitive Recently awarded a million-dollar grant to expand about the gender issue.” its work, Bradley-Angle offers short-term emer Iacuzzi, who was bom female-bodied, identi gency shelter, longer-term housing for women, fies as bi-gendered and says s/he has no interest in a 24-hour crisis line and support groups for youth, altering his/her body, wonders: “I don’t have any lesbians and African-American women. hormones, I don’t have any surgery, so what’s the Q BOU's investigator also established that the shelter "has a policy which requires its residents to identify as female while staying at the shelter, regardless of the resident's actual gender identity." ON BRO AO W AY 2300 NE BROADWAY PORTLAND, OR 97232 5O3-2B4-23OO Internet sites from GayPDX.com to Multnomah County’s General Services for Domestic Violence Victims/Survivors Web page list Bradley-Angle as the place to go if you are lesbian or transgender and need services. How does a progressive, queer-friendly shelter like Bradley-Angle lose a decision on alleged gen der discrimination? Complicating issues may exist, but they’re hard to determine, because no one— not even the shelter’s sexual and gender minorities outreach program coordinator—is willing to discuss the situation or the agency’s gender policies. Iacuzzi was also surprised by the win but adds, “Bradley-Angle House has admitted, publicly—in fact this is their argument...that they are justified [because] they’re a women’s-only organization.” While Bradley-Angle offers support services for transgender domestic violence survivors, it won’t provide shelter. “I can go to a support group and get a caseworker,” acknowledges Ia cuzzi, “but I can’t get housing, which is probably the biggest need when somebody’s experiencing domestic violence.” Tyler Smith, Outside In’s trans clinic coordi nator, contends: “There was very recently a trans woman seeking shelter that had a lot of difficulty finding a place that would accept her. She was working with case managers who were desperately trying to find a place for her and ran into brick wall after brick wall.” problem? Why can’t 1 be with the other women? I think it’s...the fear of masculinity. Just because someone is male or male-ish, they’re stereotyped to be violent, aggressive, threatening, crazy.” The Trans Communities Shelter Access Proj ect of the 519 Community Centre in Toronto insists, “These two choices are not acceptable: facing risks at a men’s shelter, or hiding their identities at a women’s shelter.” Weedman agrees. “I don’t think it’s ever healthy to ask anybody to identify as any way other than how they really do identify,” he said. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s 2003 publication Transitioning Our Shelters: A Guide to Making Homeless Shelters Safe for T rans- gender People notes, “Not only are transgender people frequently asked to endure the emotional injury of being classified as the gender with which they do not identify, but many shelters are physi cally unsafe for transgender people.” The guide argues that someone like Iacuzzi, who has a female body, would.face substantial risk of physical, verbal and sexual assault in men’s spaces. In fact, the NGLTF reports, “There have been incidents of gang rape toward FtMs in men’s shelters." Iacuzzi says Bradley-Angle’s position was twisted: “Your gender is male and you’re in a female body; therefore, I’m respecting you by ac knowledging your male gender.”
