Sherrie Laurie

Sherrie Laurie

Executive Director, Downtown Hope Center

Sherrie Laurie is the Executive Director of the Downtown Hope Center, a religious non-profit in Anchorage, Alaska; it offers over 500 meals a day to those in need and serves as an overnight shelter for homeless women, most of whom are victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. In January 2018, a biological man, who identifies as a woman, tried to gain overnight access to the women’s shelter. The shelter paid for the individual, visibly drunk and injured, to go to a nearby hospital. A few days later, the individual filed a complaint under Anchorage’s public accommodations law and the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission refused to dismiss the complaint. Anchorage asserts that the Hope Center has violated its law, which includes a ban on the Hope Center’s ability to speak about its admittance policies. Alliance Defending Freedom filed suit in federal court to protect the Hope Center from unjust application of this law.

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