Dear Editor,

We, the men of Calvary Lutheran, wish to set the straight about our community. The Seattle PI wrote about our shelter losing a future site and said it was because SHARE was stubborn and wouldn't check for sex offenders in shelters.

Sorry, but that's not what happened.

We were there. Our shelter was invited to the Ballard Calvary Lutheran church based on our existing track record and rules. Some neighbors became hysterical and threatened the church if they let us come. This hysteria was based on fear. The fear was based on ignorance and – as we call it – homelessphobia.

So the church asked us to change our screening process and begin checking for sex offenders in our screening. Why?

Our shelters have operated for 18 years in Seattle. We have 14 of them now. The two oldest have daycares and music schools. How many times have we had a problem with a sex offender at a SHARE shelter?

NEVER. NOT ONCE.

That's a fact.

So what's really happening here? This is discrimination against homeless people, pure and simple. The church that dis-invited us doesn't do sex offender checks on everyone who goes to their church service or their other programs. We have simply been targeted because we are homeless and some neighbors are fearful.

It's also un-American. This nation was founded on principles like due process, privacy, presumption of innocence and equality under the law. Discriminations, invasion of privacy and presumption of guilt are un-American.

We know there is a church, temple or mosque out there who walks their talk. One whose priority is compassion, justice, fairness and treating others the way you would want to be treated. We'll be all right.

The real losers in all this are the Ballard neighbors who are trapped in their fears and ignorance. Now they will never know what the great majority of neighbors of the 14 other SHARE shelters have learned: we are good neighbors and benefit our hosts' neighborhoods.

One Ballard neighbor suggested a three-week trial period. We accepted the challenge and offered to leave on 24-hours notice if there was a problem. If they'd accepted this proposal, they'd have seen how well we run our shelter. But, our offer wasn't taken up – the real goal of the homelessphobics was simply to keep us out.

Many of us have skills, intelligence, compassion and understanding. We've just fallen on hard times. By dis-inviting us, the church has let these neighbors think that fear has won. If we had gone in with sex offender checks, they would think that the only reason we were okay was because of those checks.

Sex offenders are not welcome in SHARE church shelters. We don't need a sex offender check during screening to move them on. The proof is in our well-run shelters and the complete lack of neighborhood problems where we stay.

Calvary Lutheran Shelter residents