This will turn shelters for abused women into a cesspool for more harm and victimization.

We have already seen this in Anchorage, Alaska. There, the City imposed a local version of the “Equality Act” to force the Hope Center women’s shelter to welcome biological males to sleep alongside these struggling women. This would give men access to stay 24 hours a day just a few feet away from vulnerable, sleeping women, many of whom had recently survived trafficking, domestic violence, or other horrific abuse by men.

If we do not stand up right now, the same language in the Equality Act (HR 15) will throw open the door for more abuse of these at-risk women at the most vulnerable point in their lives!

WE MUST STOP THIS BILL! Send your fax to Congress to stop the "Equality Act" from endangering people in our communities.

Sarah* lost her husband to cancer. Two years later, she lost her home. What she saw happening in these shelters was shocking.

“I stayed in other local shelters for a long time,” she said. “But I was always scared. People at those shelters used drugs and alcohol, and there was a lot of fighting. I even saw women trafficked.”

She continued, “Even when there were separate dormitories for men and women, men would come into the women’s sleeping areas at night. That scared me. I have been abused—raped and beaten—including by men I met at shelters. One time, the police had to be called to a shelter because my boyfriend was abusing me. Because of these experiences, it is very hard for me to be in a vulnerable position, like sleeping, around any biological male. I do not feel safe. It brings up my past.”

But Sarah was working to turn her life around. She found the one women-only shelter in Anchorage. There she finally started feeling safe. Her self-esteem grew. She graduated from culinary school to start a new life.

“I have made so much progress in life skills, dealing with my emotions, respecting myself and my boundaries ... I want other women to be able to gain what I have gained through the Hope Center’s women’s shelter.”

Many women at the Hope Center have suffered rape, physical abuse, and domestic violence. When a man, identifying as a woman, drunk and injured, came to the center, the staff referred him to a local hospital. That’s when the Anchorage Human Rights Commission came after the shelter, claiming the man was discriminated against on the basis of “gender identity.”

We can’t let government force women like Sarah into abusive situations!

But the help that turned Sarah’s life around will be stripped away by the Equality Act. Tell Congress to VOTE NO on the EQUALITY ACT.

Another woman at Hope Center testified under oath to the following:

“I spent time on the streets and I know how hard it can be out there. But if the Hope Center were forced to let any biological man into the women’s shelter, I would leave even if it meant sleeping in the woods. I would rather sleep in the woods than sleep in the same area as a biological man.”

She is not talking about the friendly woods of Tennessee or Virginia. This is the Alaskan frontier, where staff are instructed to carry a gun to handle bears when staff have to walk just 30 feet to use an outhouse.

She would rather face a bear or other deadly animals than sleep next to a man. She continued, “I would be afraid that I was going to be raped again. It would trigger a PTSD reaction for me” (emphasis added).

The cries of these women must not be ignored. Yet that is exactly what the Equality Act would do. It harms women and creates real victims. When our laws and policies ignore biological reality, there is a real human cost.

Even if you have already responded, we need to keep the pressure on our legislators. The battle in Congress will be fierce, but we can win.

The reactions of these women are typical. National statistics show that 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 women have been raped. Sadly, when you get to an Indian reservation, that number climbs to 1 in 3 women who have been raped.

Keep in mind that out of every 1,000 sexual assault perpetrators, only 25 will ever be incarcerated, while 975 of them will remain free. And they will have the same motivations that will drive them to abuse again.

In some of the shelters on and near Indian reservations, community experts estimate that nearly 100% of the women (or girls) in the shelters have been raped. Under this new bill, abusers can turn these shelters into an inescapable pool of victims. We MUST stop HR 15.

In some rural places, women may only have one shelter, if that.

Under the Equality Act, if a man were to walk into that shelter and demand access, then all the women there would be forced to sleep in the same area. Under HR 15, every shelter will be required to admit these men with the women.

My heart breaks to think this one last safety net could be stripped from women like Sarah.

Our team on Capitol Hill is one of the lone voices working to stop this bill. Help us stand in the gap for these women by making your best possible donation to our ministry today.

Mat Staver, Chairman
John Stemberger, President
Liberty Counsel Action