After the Alaskan City of Anchorage passed an ordinance that would force women’s shelters to allow transgendered women to be given access, a Federal court has recently ruled that the shelter, a faith-based shelter, should not be compelled by the law to take in transgendered women.
The outcome is the result of an ongoing battle between the city and the Downtown Hope Center, which began when an inebriated and violent male was seeking to gain access to the women’s shelter by claiming to be a transgendered woman, or so the Center claims. From there, the city fought a legal battle which led to the city having to pay a $100k fine. After that, they passed an ordinance disallowing gender-specific shelters. This is the law that the federal court shut down.
Judge Rules Anchorage Women’s Shelter Can Remain A Women’s Shelter
From thefederalist.com
2021-12-22 17:24:24
Tristan Justice
Excerpt:
A federal court ruled on Monday that a faith-based women’s shelter in Anchorage, Alaska, was allowed to remain open exclusively for women after the city passed an ordinance to mandate otherwise.
The Downtown Hope Center sued the city in 2018 when officials sought legal retribution against the charity over its refusal to allow an inebriated and injured biological man who identified as a woman to sleep at its facility alongside homeless women. The shelter referred the man to a hospital instead where he was sent in a taxi paid for by the group.
A complaint was later filed with the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission and pursued by the city before a preliminary injunction in the shelter’s favor led to a settlement that forced the municipality to pay the charity $100,001 in fees. The Anchorage Assembly then opted to change a local ordinance to erase gender-exclusive shelters, which provoked the ongoing litigation.