UPDATE to Part I - Investigating Grants Pass GRM

New, recent documents

In my previous post, I released and commented on three documents I received believed to be from the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission: a three-page list of 29 rules, a daily schedule for the women’s shelter, and a 30-day stay-renewal assessment. These were provided to me by my source who I am referring to as Alison to protect her identity. The documents she provided aligned with the time she stayed there and are thus at least seven years old, and one of them is dated as having been updated in 2015.

While I think it is exceptionally relevant what the Mission was doing seven-to-ten-years ago, I of course had to wonder if any of this had changed since then. Having read their website and some articles about them, it seemed like these were still in place: their website references the 30 day stay, the nicotine prohibition, and their strong religious disposition. Other articles, like this one confirm some of the rules, and that’s there’s still specifically 29 of them—but also reference a few rules that aren’t on the 2015 version.

So, I did some sleuthing. And it turns out the Mission is all too eager to highlight their rules.

In a YouTube video uploaded just over a month ago, the Grants Pass Gospel Mission expresses a commitment to going through their rules 1 by 1 to explain/justify them. The video has a very smug, Trumpian air of “the criticism is funny to us and definitely doesn’t bother us but here’s a long justification” quality to it. Feel free to be the judge for yourself:

What was very helpful about this video, apart from showing us all who they are, is that it contains an image of the first page of the current rules. I pulled the following image from the video in the highest resolution I could, presented:

For those who would like to compare on their own, here is the version I received from Alison that was dated as updated in 2015:

The first thing that jumps out is how incredibly similar the documents are. The format is the same. The logo has changed to blue, the title now includes the word “Covenant”, and the header includes two new sentences about the covenant and the expectations. Rule 7 is new (more on this in a second!), which bumped the previous Rule 7 to Rule 8, and theoretically has bumped rules 8 and 9 from the previous version onto the next page, which I have not yet acquired.

Before we get to Rule 7 (and trust me, I want to talk about Rule 7!) it’s worth pausing to recognize that some of the most troubling aspects—the 30 day stay/reassessment and Rule 4’s control over medication and itsexclusion of disabled persons—has not changed at all. In fact, in my search for these current documents, I found two officially filed court documents from the court case that suggest this is enforced strictly.

In an amicus brief filed by the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, they write:

Carrie Lynn Hill’s declaration states that she could not stay at Gospel Rescue Mission because she would have to check her nebulizer in as medical equipment and, though she must use it at least once every four hours, would not be able to use it in her room.

In documents filed when the case was before the Ninth Circuit Court, the plaintiffs state that:

Multiple class members submitted uncontested declarations to the district court stating they did not stay at the Gospel Rescue Mission because they suffer from disqualifying disabilities and/or were unwilling to attend church.

Suffice to say, while we don’t have the full three pages of the current rules, we can ascertain from what is available that the rules shared by Alison are mostly, if not completely, still in place and are enforced. We will see whether I can obtain the remaining pages—or if the Mission YouTube series will continue past the first rule.

Now: Rule 7.

In case the image is too blurry, or for those needing alt text, here is the new rule in its entirety:

The Gospel Rescue Mission is a Christian organization and therefore understands gender and sexuality in Biblical terms. All residents must dress and behave according to their birth gender for the duration of their residency at the Gospel Rescue Mission. All sexual expression, such as sexual intercourse with others or self, is both inappropriate and considered a breach of covenantal contract.

It’s not terribly uncommon for Christian shelters to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, by either barring them from entry or mandating that they be assigned to the gender-specific dorms that match the assigned sex at birth rather than their gender identity. I wrote in my book why I think that is wrong whether or not you are LGBTQ+ affirming, so I won’t restate that here. What is especially and deeply troubling is the way the Mission is policing dress and behavior according to gender norms.

How does a woman dress? How does a man behave? And who decides when these norms have been breached? I’ve met folks who think women shouldn’t be allowed to wear pants. How many Christians in the neo-reformed movement believe that wanting a career over a husband and kids isn’t “behaving like a woman.” This ultimately comes back to how extremely subjective all of these rules are; allowing the Mission any number of reasons to kick anyone out they want, and point to a vague rule as to why—and specifically to kick out people who don’t share a fundamentalist Christian worldview.

Lastly, and I hate to call any attention to this, but the prohibition against masturbation in Rule 7 is obviously very obtuse, but the way it would be monitored and enforced raises a lot of questions, and with them dozens of red flags.

I will continue to provide updates as I get them. Be sure and read Part II one week from today, which will primarily be Alison’s story.

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Reminder: Let’s support Alison financially for the risk and labor of bringing us these documents and her story. Every penny you send to me will go directly to her in addition to the amount I am committing to and have already given. You can contribute via Venmo (@ kevin-nye-3), Cash App ($Revkev), Paypal or Zelle (kevin.m.nye@gmail.com).

Part II - Investigating the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission