A federal court issued an order this week ruling that the city of Anchorage cannot enforce a city ordinance to require a faith-based women’s shelter to admit males and let them sleep alongside women who have suffered physical and sexual abuse.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska found that Downtown Hope Center does not constitute a place of “public accommodation” and therefore is not subject to a city ordinance that threatened the shelter with fines and penalties for following its religious beliefs and serving women in need.
ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson said, “Vulnerable women deserve a safe place to stay overnight, and we’re pleased that they can sleep soundly, at least for the time being, due to the court’s order.”
“Downtown Hope Center serves everyone, but its overnight women’s shelter exists to provide a safe place for women, many of whom have survived sex trafficking, rape, or domestic violence at the hands of men.”
In 2018, Downtown Hope Center filed a federal lawsuit against the city after the shelter referred an inebriated and injured man to a hospital to get the care he needed. The man later filed a complaint with the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission alleging the center didn’t let him stay at the shelter, where he would have been sleeping right next to homeless women—many of whom were victims of physical and sexual abuse. The city then chose to pursue the complaint against the center, prompting ADF attorneys to file suit on the center’s behalf.