It has come to my attention that this may come across as flippant and dismissive, which is certainly not my intent, and for that I apologize. Here’s the thing: VRR, as well as other domestic violence and rape crisis centers, provides an essential service for some of the most vulnerable members of our society. I would never take that away from them.

It is also undeniable that VRR has a history of discriminating against trans individuals, both in terms of who they allow to volunteer and who they accept in the shelter. They also have a habit of citing trans-exclusionary radical feminists and their allies who push extremely damaging ideas regarding “women-born-women” and biological essentialism, some of which have been scrubbed from their site, some still remain proudly cited. To the best of my knowledge, they have never acknowledged their transphobia as a problem or apologized for it.

Furthermore, they co-opt language of slavery to talk about attempting to abolish prostitution, fight against the international decriminalization of consensual adult sex work, and conflate sex work with human trafficking while barring actual sex workers from lectures about why they ought to be made illegal.

Troublingly, in a city notorious for struggling with managing addiction and substance abuse, their website has no information or statements about either, which speaks volumes to their capability and willingness to support harm reduction or women who live with addiction. I personally have no interest in supporting a group that isn’t engaged in supporting all women. You can and should make up your own mind.