To the Left, victimhood is valuable currency. The more "oppressed" you are — whether actually or by perception — the more moral authority you have to lord over the rest of us. But to put their thumb on the scales, they created the concept of "intersectionality" to make sure their preferred political, racial, sexual, and socioeconomic groups always end up winning their twisted little game of political power.
That's why they can look at women who are homeless, or rape victims, or escaping domestic violence and tell them with a straight face their trauma doesn't matter and they must allow men into their safe spaces and shelters, lest they be labeled "TERFs" and "transphobes." It's the height of irony, of course: the Left screamed about the "patriarchy" for years, only to usher in an actual patriarchy by allowing mentally ill men to have power over women and girls, including the power to mentally, physically, and sexually abuse and exploit them, in the name of "transgender ideology."
Now, many of the gains women made for equality (which were later exploited by feminists and leftists) have been severely damaged, if not outright erased. Gone is a woman's ability to say "no" to a man in her locker room or on the playing field, for example. Doing so will get you banned from your gym or referred to counseling by your university.
And for women who have been actual victims of domestic abuse, including sexual assault and rape, they're forced by the courts not only to refer to their abusers as "women," but to share shelters and charitable organization space with them.
In Alaska, Sherrie Laurie has been fighting for years to make sure that women at Anchorage's Downtown Hope Center. The battle started after a man in a pink nightgown — a huge red flag — showed up at the women's shelter. It was January 2018, where the average temperature in Anchorage ranges from 9° to 23°, and the man was intoxicated, injured, and agitated. Laurie refused him entry but paid for transportation to a nearby hospital.
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Laurie made the choice to protect the dozens of homeless women in the shelter, many of whom were victims of rape, sex trafficking, and domestic violence. Those women slept in a shared room, on cots just three feet apart.
— Independent Women (@IWF) October 11, 2026One decision at an Alaska women’s shelter sparked a years-long courtroom battle.
Sherrie Laurie fought to preserve female-only sleeping quarters for women escaping violence and homelessness.
Why her story matters far beyond Alaska ⤵️https://t.co/ic5wUpu0kZ
Laurie told the IWF that the man was "very belligerent and demanding to stay." That's another red flag. A week after that incident, the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission notified her she was facing a discrimination complaint for rejecting the man based on "gender identity."
The first complaint was dismissed in 2019, so Anchorage changed its ordinance, which prompted a second lawsuit in 2021. A judge ruled in favor of the shelter, determining that it was not a "public accommodation" and therefore not subject to the ordinance.
But the fight is not over. As the IWF points out, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was amended in 2013 to add "gender identity" to its nondiscrimination requirements, and Congress is poised to reauthorize VAWA next year.
This would be a fantastic opportunity for Congress to remove "gender identity" from VAWA. "Trans women" are men, full stop. Women deserve safe spaces and protection from those men, and women like Laurie shouldn't be punished for protecting vulnerable women from intoxicated, belligerent men seeking to invade their safe spaces.
But if Democrats regain control of Congress next month, there's no way they'll ever protect women. In fact, they're vowing to enact a "Transgender Bill of Rights" which would likely mean the women Laurie has helped over the years would be re-victimized by mentally ill, abusive men with the blessing of the federal government.