Jennifer Gale Died Homeless; 136th Person Who Died Sleeping On Austin Streets This Year

[I had to self-censor here; I'd be ejected from this site - and the net - if I said what I was really thinking]

There was really nowhere for Jennifer Gale to go to protect herself from the cold last night. The Salvation Army (the only shelter in town that takes in women) would not let her in there unless she was grouped with the men (which includes sleeping with, and showering with, other homeless men).

This really makes me want to go drop something in a Salvation Army bucket.

As soon as I post this, I'll start following my dogs around, waiting for them give me the perfect thing to drop in.

>^..^<

---

by: KatRose @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:02:48 PM CST

Good 'Christian' Compassion there

Kat:

I was about to post the same general reaction you did but wondered if I'd get jumped on for hurting all the other stuff the Salvation Army does.

But until they treat transgendered people with dignity and respect they have seen the last dollar from me.

And if it means anything, I'm probably thinking along your lines (mine has something to do with: bell, shove, ass) :)

---

by: kegbot1 @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:12:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well...

I wouldn't want to harm an innocent bell.

However, if you've ever encountered what my pug Louise downloads, you'd understand just how grave of an insult it would be for me to drop it in their bucket.  (I love Louise, and she has teh exact same diet as our other pug - but what comes out of Louise is positively evil.)

>^..^<

---

by: KatRose @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:18:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

LOL!

Um... I have a pug, too- but rather than "KatRose", her name is Elizabeth!

This (Jennifer's death) is infuriating. Good lord, a woman DIED simply because of intolerance and inhumanity! This is utterly despicable.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

---

by: Louise @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:46:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I wonder if the collector bell ringer would understand

 receiving a worn out shoe in the bucket?  Might have to leave a little note inside the shoe, a long with a puppy pile.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

---

by: HappyCat @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 20:21:09 PM CST

[ Parent ]

My fantasy....

(that i'm too good of a person to actually enact) is to walk up to a bell-ringing S.A. volunteer, pull out a fat wad of $100 bills (ok, maybe $5 bills), act as if i'm about to put them in the bucket, pause, and say,

wait, isn't the S.A. discriminatory against GLBT people?  oh yeah, i forgot.

 then put my money away and walk away.  maybe even engage the volunteer in some nice cheery merry christmas talk prior.  

---

by: Narra @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:13:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Autumn, I'm afraid I beat you to it.

Too many sad tears.

Several years ago, I took in a homeless young transwoman. The local Salvation Army shelter treated her so badly she left and ended up sleeping in the loading dock of a abandon supermarket.

Every time I see one of the red kettles I want to go up to the person ringing their stupid bell and let him or her know how their organization will dehumanize such vulnerable people.

Myra, I hope you are OK.

Dena


Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

---

by: Denabeth @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 14:23:14 PM CST

Equality Texas needs to Sue the Salvation Army for Wrongful Death

I really see no difference between:

Scott Peterson killing his wife Laci Peterson because it was cheaper than divorce.

An HMO allowing someone to die because it is cheaper than the treatment.

The Salvation Army turning away LGBT people to die in the cold.

Killing (or allowing to die) for money, expediency, or belief in a poorly written book is the most heinous of crimes and what the death penalty should be reserved for.

Equality Texas needs to Sue the Salvation Army for Wrongful Death

This is moral and immoral. The moral thing, the thing that everyone knows is right inside, though some are afraid to say, is EQUALITY. Inequality is immoral.

---

by: mickdansforth @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 15:01:48 PM CST

The city will be looking at Salvation Army's exemption from the law

Equality Texas has this on their webpage

Equality Texas, the Transgender Education Network of Texas, and City of Austin officials are now working together to address changes in policy, or enforcement of existing policy, that might prevent another tragic loss of life. The City of Austin's non-discrimination ordinance is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity with regard to employment and public accommodations.  The ordinance includes certain religious and private club exemptions, which will be reviewed for applicability to the delivery of shelter services for the homeless.

http://eqfed.org/eqtx/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=29959276

I am not familiar with Texas organizations so I did a quick web search and couldn't find Transgender Education Network of Texas.  Apparently it is the new name for Transgender Advocates of Central Texas, which is based in Austin.  Its website doesn't have the new name yet, nor does it have any information related to Jennifer Gale or the Salvation Army.  

If you want allies, you have to be an ally.

---

by: dale @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 15:07:52 PM CST

Gale sightings

Having lived in Austin as long as I did, it wasn't really all that uncommon to spot Jennifer Gale within the city at any given place on any given day.  She was always cordial and polite, quite unlike many of the other transient personalities that dot the sidewalks, but she also always made a point to keep her distance from those of us who made a living at any of the gay bars and lounges.

Like Autumn says above, Jennifer is a symbol of a much larger problem.  It's something that we don't discuss nearly as much as we should, and this unfortunate tragedy should give us all a reason to stop and think about transgendered persons and homelessness.

Living now in a "gayborhood" in the larger city of Dallas, this incident made me stop for a moment earlier and think about exactly how many of the transients and homeless that I brush by daily near work and home that are themselves transgendered.

"Why Martha!  Your Sunday chapel dress!"

---

by: sput @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 15:42:56 PM CST

I attended a council meeting

In which Jennifer brought up this very point. The fact that transfolks had nowhere to go as no shelter would accept them. This was during a short lived city ordinance that was pushed for by downtown businesses that ostensibly was to stop aggressive panhandling but was actually designed to deny the homeless from occupying the downtown area. Among the council members there were a few eye rollers but mainly the city was sympathetic. The problem was that the Salvation Army runs the homeless shelters there and just as the Catholics running Brackenridge meant that access to reproductive health was severely curtailed among indigent Austin women, the city claimed to be powerless to force the Salvation Army to accept transgendered Austinites. All bullshit of course, I don't remember anybody forcing Austin to give that contract to the Salvation Army or allowing the Catholics to run Brack, nor are they ever "forced" to renew those.

 What I do when I spot a bell ringer is I prepare several notes before I go out and fold them and put them into the bucket. When they open them, instead of a check, they find the simple message, "When the Salvation Army becomes and advocate for and practitioner of equal rights and protections under the law for all Americans, I will donate to them. Until then, on behalf of my LGBT brothers and sisters and myself, please accept this much more valuable advice"

---

by: Margaret @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 17:44:06 PM CST

who hasn't seen....?

  I live in Studio City, but frequented an area of Hollywood that is  also home to many trans young people. Living out and all too obviously, with nowhere really safe to go.

  The services provided by the Jeff Griffith shelter and the gay and lesbian center nearby, are suffering budget cuts.

 I hate it that I don't have a house big enough, and frustrated at seeing such young people out where it isn't safe for them.

   These are good young folks. I am so humbled by how many of them get concerned about ME.
I had surgery on my legs recently and in seeing my limp, they offer to help me, ask after my welfare.
Some see me around the hood and know me well. My affection will always be there...

Jennifer deserved so much better...my thoughts and prayers for her peace.

  If I ruled the world...
 

---

by: Regan DuCasse @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 18:01:48 PM CST

God I'm Lucky

Damn.

I did give money to the Salvation Army bell ringers this Christmas, several times.  I told them, "This is for you and you only."  I am familiar with the SA.

Damn.
This fucking upsets me.
What is wrong with people?

---

by: presto @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 18:05:19 PM CST

Shelters

One of the important issues I address in Aurora is shelters for the homeless and transient. Within those catagories are women and children shelters for those suffering domestic violence.  There is a large undercurrent of some wanting to drive them away because those people shouldn't be in Aurora.

However, most modern cities know the problem and are trying to address the problem in some way, usually very small way.  

One thing everybody here can do is identify shelters you feel comfortable supporting then call the shelters offering to help them with supplies, food and money.  Ask them to listen to a sales pitch about bringing in T people and having solid arguments to support your reasoning.  TSRoadMap.com is a good place to learn more if you are not T.

We have at least one womens shelter that is open to transwomen if there is room; the same as all other women.

To give you an idea how hard it is to get the problem with homeless people is, there are people here who do not believe there are homeless veterans.  Frustrating.

Pam,
J'aime ma Peau

---

by: Blonde Pam @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 19:34:46 PM CST

wake up America

the shocking thing about this is not this single death. It's that it's the 136th in AUSTIN this year. You can't blame the Sally Army, how high would this crazy figure be but for them. This is not a statistic from a civilised society. It should not be tolerated. I can't believe society is so greedy in America to let this happen. Don't let it. Vote for higher taxes, proper services. Wake up. This could be someone you love.

---

by: Gerard @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 20:39:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well...

You can't blame the Sally Army, how high would this crazy figure be but for them.

Well - it appears as though it might have only been 135 if not for them.

Sorry - but if you kill someone, you can't use the fact that you didn't kill 135 other people as a defense.

OK...I guess you could.  

But if you do, alcohol swabs are on me.  You'll need them on that day they wheel you into the death chamber on a gurney in anticipation of a certain series of needles - because the 'I didn't kill 135 other people' defense ain't gonna cut it.

>^..^<

---

by: KatRose @ Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 22:40:08 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I am horrified and saddened

I knew Jennifer when she lived in Dallas. I knew her to be a bright, warm, upbeat, and caring individual. She had her problems, as do we all.

Occasionally, I'd run into at the Kroger store or on Cedar Springs and I'd take her to run a few errands or just have a cup of coffee and conversation. I'm crying as I write this. When she ran for election, I helped her gather signatures. I knew she couldn't win but I admired her courage and wanted to offer my moral support.

My feelings and thoughts are racing.

Poor Jennifer. What about all of the other GLBT people who are thrown away, abused, beaten up, murdered. Remember Alan Keyes throwing his lesbian daughter out of his home?

This is a perfect example of why I am so upset with that Bastard Obama for inviting the hateful, gay-bashing bigot Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration.

Dear, dear Jennifer, goodbye.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

---

by: oldbrit @ Sat Dec 20, 2008 at 03:38:40 AM CST

Everytime I go by one of those SA bell-ringers...

...I think about how they are just one more evangelical/fundamentalist Christin organization that compares lgbt to pedophiles or murderers or what not. I sometimes glare at them when they insipidly say, "God bless you" even after I don't give them anything anyway. How magnanimous of them.

Gee, what a surprise that they allow a human being to go back out on the streets to die because she is trans!

This is the problem with having religious groups do this sort of thing - they can always use their prejudice, I mean their religious faith, to deny services. Then they cry and moan about how they're being persecuted when criticized. "Stop calling us bad people! Boo hoo hoo!"

And when was the last time you read of some SA person raped, battered, thrown to the street to die, kicked out of their homes, etc. etc. etc. simply due to their religious faith? Didn't think you'd heard of any such thing. But, you sure do read lots of stories about, oh, let's see, a transwoman forced to the street to die, three gay men being shot to death in New Orleans (one possibly a transperson), or men assumed to be gay (and who were also Latino and immigrants) being knifed to death in NYC - and that's all in just one week or two as we approach the Prince of Peace's "birthday". Praise God!

---

by: bored beyond belief @ Mon Dec 22, 2008 at 18:59:31 PM CST

Just a follow-on from the Austin Chronicle.

As a follow-on to this thread, our alternative weekly paper did some digging around the rumor she was denied shelter. This comes from their Naked City column.
http://www.austinchronicle.com...

Gale Rumor Untrue

In the wake of the untimely death of perennial City Council candidate and gadfly Jennifer Gale, public sympathy with her homelessness - she died, of yet unconfirmed causes, while sleeping outside Wednesday morning, Dec. 17 - has led to misleading speculation about the circumstances of her death.

A Burnt Orange Report blog posting by Karl-Thomas Musselman quoted an e-mail from Marti Bier (aide to City Council Member Randi Shade) describing Gale as a "trans[gender] woman living in a transphobic society" and therefore with "nowhere ... to go to protect herself from the cold [last] night."

Bier's sympathetic rumor had become conventional wisdom by Thursday's council meeting, and a subsequent press release by Equality Texas was headlined in part, "Her death can be directly attributed to lack of shelters accepting of transgender homeless."

In fact, a somewhat embarrassed Bier says now, that's not true. She says she had confused a story she'd heard about another transgender woman's bad experience at a local shelter with Gale and that she has since contacted both the Salvation Army and the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless. Both shelters say they do what they can to accommodate all homeless people, regardless of gender status, although they do have to adjust accommodations to particular circumstances. "I think I was trying to call attention to the problem of transwomen accessing services," Bier said.

Although we're still inquiring, there is in fact currently no evidence that Gale was ever refused shelter or indeed that she had ever requested it. - Michael King

---

by: DS_Austin @ Mon Dec 29, 2008 at 08:38:07 AM CST

Having lived in Austin as long as I did...

Having lived in Austin as long as I did, it wasn't really all that uncommon to spot Jennifer Gale within the city at any given place on any given day.  She was always cordial and polite, quite unlike many of the other transient personalities that dot the sidewalks, but she also always made a point to keep her distance from those of us who made a living at any of the gay bars and lounges.
club penguin cheats

---

by: hankjmatt @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 21:18:02 PM CDT