LANSING, Mich. — The city rescue Mission credits its strong ties to religion when it comes to helping thousands in the community.
“In 2019, we were servicing around 135 people each night with shelter and food, and now we’re up to about 260 a night,” said Randy Barton with the City Rescue Mission.
Now the shelter is hoping to help more people.
Monday night representatives pitched an expansion plan to city council to move to a new location, but some council members had concerns, starting with potential discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
“We have been given a document that employees and volunteers at the rescue mission must sign, and the documents says you can’t do certain things,” said Lansing City Councilwoman Patricia Spitzley.
Section 4 of the statement of faith emphasizes how the shelter believes a marriage should only be between a man and woman.
“It is something that is so un-American that I don’t see how it’s even legal to do something like,” said Jerry Norris with the Fledge Foundation.
Norris said that clause in the document is blatant discrimination.
“I think the city of Lansing needs to create or find a shelter to fund that is not faith based and that is radically inclusive and people shouldn’t be scared to go there and be themselves,” Norris said.
The City Rescue Mission did say on Monday - that statement of faith is for employees and volunteers and that they won’t turn people needing help away because of religion or sexuality.
The ultimate decision is left up to council and Spitzley said she can’t base her decision on personal beliefs.
“I have to be very clinical and look at just the request for zoning and whether or not it fits,” she said.
We reached out to the City Rescue Mission for additional comment, but have not heard anything back.
