Jodielynn Wiley, a transgender woman living in Texas, has filed a complaint with Dallas's Fair Housing Office after she was allegedly denied access to a shelter run by the Salvation Army because of who she is, according to ThinkProgress. Wiley left her home in Paris, Texas, after receiving death threats and sought emergency shelter at the Carl P. Collins Social Services Center in Dallas.
As she reached the end of her 30-day stay at the emergency shelter, Wiley sought other long-term shelter options. One such option was the a two-year housing program run by the Salvation Army, which several other women from the Collins Center had recently entered. According to the Dallas Voice, when she interviewed for the program with her case worker, Wiley was told she was disqualified because she had not had gender reassignment surgery: “After I said no, she said, ‘Well, that’s why we can’t give you a room. It was putting me in an uncomfortable situation and very rude.” Her counselor then changed the story and claimed that there was a waiting list, but Wiley says that two women who arrived at the emergency shelter after she did had already entered the longer program.