Always thought that I'd be an apostle...
May. 2nd, 2003 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorp...knew that I would make it if I tried.
Yesterday a client came to me about a preacher that made him feel uncomfortable. Apparently, there's a minister of some sort who has been at my shelter repeatedly (lots of visiting religious personnel come from time to time, ministering to the masses) with what has been described to me as a very "fire and brimstone" message. What disturbed my client was that (per client) the minister was equating homelessness to immorality, and insinuating that all of the residents had become homeless through immoral acts. And then there was the little part where he denounced gay people as evil and said that "AIDS was punishment for homosexuality."
Now, aside from the fact that everyone who is staying at my shelter is /homeless/ (immoral?), we also have had (or currently have) clients who are HIV+ and/or homosexual. To me, this is entirely unacceptable. I don't see how staff can allow a visitor to come in and isolate clients, and potentially target them. Color me incensed.
After that appointment, I emailed my direct supervisor and the executive director of my organization explaining the situation. I tried to keep my personal feelings out of the situation, but really, can I? I spent the rest of the work day ruminating about it and giving myself anxiety. Having a person come into my workplace and say these things to people that see me 5 out of 7 days a week gives me uncomfortable feelings. No one has ever (aside from the "rumors" that I'm a "gay ass," a "dyke," and a "butch") publicly scorned me or acted in a hostile manner towards me. But I know that a lot of my clients, aside from being raised in very homophobic cultures, are currently very impressionable due to the vulnerability of their situation, or because of other factors, and while I don't /directly/ worry for my safety, I do have concerns. There is a person coming into my workplace /with permission/ talking about my damnation and my suffering and my evil-ness.
So I want to see what my supervisor and the ED will say about my client's complaints, first. Hopefully, there will be some sort of happy resolution where the preachers can come in and not talk about things that can isolate or target clients (whether they be HIV+ or gay or Jewish or atheist or whatever) - to me, just opening the dorms so that the people who don't want to hear the message don't have to isn't enough! Hopefully I won't have to decide whether or not I feel it's safe to stay at my job.
When I was interviewing for the position, my interviewers asked me how I felt about working for a faith-based organization. I told them that as a Unitarian Universalist, I respect and acknowledge all faiths, and appreciated the good that faith can do for the people who hold it. And I said that I had no problem with a faith-based, or a Lutheran-based, organization as long as it had no problem with me. I was pretty clear on the fact that I am upfront and open about my life, all parts of it, and that the organization would need to know that from the beginning. And they hired me. As a matter of fact, the woman who was my supervisor for, like, a minute, specifically told me that she thought that my being out and outspoken (among other things) would be good for Faith Mission in the sense of advocating for those clients who need that sort of voice.
Which, then, of course, makes me think that I /shouldn't/ quit my job, even if I'm uncomfortable. I'm such a Libra.
Yesterday a client came to me about a preacher that made him feel uncomfortable. Apparently, there's a minister of some sort who has been at my shelter repeatedly (lots of visiting religious personnel come from time to time, ministering to the masses) with what has been described to me as a very "fire and brimstone" message. What disturbed my client was that (per client) the minister was equating homelessness to immorality, and insinuating that all of the residents had become homeless through immoral acts. And then there was the little part where he denounced gay people as evil and said that "AIDS was punishment for homosexuality."
Now, aside from the fact that everyone who is staying at my shelter is /homeless/ (immoral?), we also have had (or currently have) clients who are HIV+ and/or homosexual. To me, this is entirely unacceptable. I don't see how staff can allow a visitor to come in and isolate clients, and potentially target them. Color me incensed.
After that appointment, I emailed my direct supervisor and the executive director of my organization explaining the situation. I tried to keep my personal feelings out of the situation, but really, can I? I spent the rest of the work day ruminating about it and giving myself anxiety. Having a person come into my workplace and say these things to people that see me 5 out of 7 days a week gives me uncomfortable feelings. No one has ever (aside from the "rumors" that I'm a "gay ass," a "dyke," and a "butch") publicly scorned me or acted in a hostile manner towards me. But I know that a lot of my clients, aside from being raised in very homophobic cultures, are currently very impressionable due to the vulnerability of their situation, or because of other factors, and while I don't /directly/ worry for my safety, I do have concerns. There is a person coming into my workplace /with permission/ talking about my damnation and my suffering and my evil-ness.
So I want to see what my supervisor and the ED will say about my client's complaints, first. Hopefully, there will be some sort of happy resolution where the preachers can come in and not talk about things that can isolate or target clients (whether they be HIV+ or gay or Jewish or atheist or whatever) - to me, just opening the dorms so that the people who don't want to hear the message don't have to isn't enough! Hopefully I won't have to decide whether or not I feel it's safe to stay at my job.
When I was interviewing for the position, my interviewers asked me how I felt about working for a faith-based organization. I told them that as a Unitarian Universalist, I respect and acknowledge all faiths, and appreciated the good that faith can do for the people who hold it. And I said that I had no problem with a faith-based, or a Lutheran-based, organization as long as it had no problem with me. I was pretty clear on the fact that I am upfront and open about my life, all parts of it, and that the organization would need to know that from the beginning. And they hired me. As a matter of fact, the woman who was my supervisor for, like, a minute, specifically told me that she thought that my being out and outspoken (among other things) would be good for Faith Mission in the sense of advocating for those clients who need that sort of voice.
Which, then, of course, makes me think that I /shouldn't/ quit my job, even if I'm uncomfortable. I'm such a Libra.
