I was an outreach worker with homeless people in the U.K. in the early 2000s. The only shelter in town was the Salvation Army and unfortunately the manager had the attitude ‘The reason I work here is so I don’t have to work with gays and drug addicts’. The attitude of the staff was they were here to help the ‘deserving poor’ not to support those who made bad lifestyle choices.
It meant we had approximately 20 rough sleepers while the hostel - funded by the council - had empty beds because these homeless people didn’t meet the criteria of what was funded as a first stage direct access shelter.
That was interesting! I could find anything about it (very keep Google search - homoseksualitet Frelsens Hær) in Denmark, but they did the same discrimination in Norway (article in Danish):
I was an outreach worker with homeless people in the U.K. in the early 2000s. The only shelter in town was the Salvation Army and unfortunately the manager had the attitude ‘The reason I work here is so I don’t have to work with gays and drug addicts’. The attitude of the staff was they were here to help the ‘deserving poor’ not to support those who made bad lifestyle choices.
It meant we had approximately 20 rough sleepers while the hostel - funded by the council - had empty beds because these homeless people didn’t meet the criteria of what was funded as a first stage direct access shelter.
It makes me angry to this day.
That was interesting! I could find anything about it (very keep Google search - homoseksualitet Frelsens Hær) in Denmark, but they did the same discrimination in Norway (article in Danish):
https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/teologi-koster-statsst%C3%B8tte
Don't know if they lost the support though.