Today in Disgusting People: NIMBY Edition

This is no less than appalling:

Lucie's Place, a Central Arkansas nonprofit serving homeless LGBTQ youth and young adults, has withdrawn its request for a conditional use permit for a seven-person transitional home in Little Rock's Leawood neighborhood after receiving an email from a neighbor vowing to make the home's location public knowledge.

Penelope Poppers, executive director of Lucie's Place, said the nonprofit was midway through the sale and was prepared to close on the property as soon as it received the use permit from the city. Poppers said the group initially received some pushback from neighbors unhappy about the idea of a homeless shelter in their neighborhood but were able to allay those concerns by explaining its nature: a small residential setting for formerly homeless young people to develop life skills and get back on their feet. Lucie's Place already operates one four-bed transitional home in Central Little Rock.

Of course, there's always one person who will screw things up. Poppers got the following e-mail when the organization was on the verge of closing on the house:

I just received notification that there is some sort of halfway house or homeless shelter being proposed on Harmon [Drive], For LGBTQ persons who are at risk of being homeless. We are supposed to make clear if we oppose or support this idea.

We are completely and 100% opposed to this happening in our neighborhood! While I am completely in support of helping any who are in the situation of homelessness, and used to run a shelter myself in Houston, I am absolutely opposed to this happening in our residential neighborhood. We purchased a home in this neighborhood specifically because it was safe for our children. I do not want to live anywhere near a home like this. Since I have personal experience running a home like this, I am aware of the dangers involved, from a resident disclosing the location of the home, to a person tracking them down, to sneaking drugs in, to having a criminal background that's undisclosed, etc. This is a terrible idea for our neighborhood! If this passes, I will make it my personal mission to get all of our neighbors involved in disclosing the location of this home to anyone that we can and fighting the forward motion of this plan. This is absolutely unacceptable for this area. I've talked to all the neighbors within 500 feet of our house, and every single one of them feels the same way. We will all be attending the meeting to voice our opposition, but if this goes through we will disclose the location of this home to anyone who wants to know, and will fight this every step of the way. I cannot even believe that you would be considering opening a home of this nature in a residential neighborhood, that has many many children all around it. Not to mention elderly, Christians who completely oppose that lifestyle, etc. please take this idea and plant it elsewhere. I think it's a wonderful idea, just not in this neighborhood!

Couldn't be more clear: "not in my back yard," which is rankest hypocrisy. There's also the fact that this person (apparently it's a woman) never bothered to learn the specifics of the project, but just went off.

And let's be clear: disclosing the location of a shelter like this exposes the kids to all sorts of harassment and violence. My personal feeling is that Lucie's Place should forward the e-mail and any available contact information to the police, although that's probably moot, given that the organization is now looking at another property. I tend to agree with a lot of the commenters: this woman should be outed for what she is: a bigot and a bully, and a hysterical one at that. (Of course, bigotry and hysteria tend to go hand in hand.)

I have some pretty strong thoughts about the fact that the richest country in the world has people living on the streets with no place to go. I also have strong thoughts about "Christians" (and of course the e-mailer makes reference to "Christians" who "disagree with that lifestyle") who never read the Gospels: she needs a good dose of Matthew 25: 41-46:

41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

It's worth noting, this being Arkansas and all, that the overwhelming majority of commenters at this article are not kind to the NIMBY.

Via NCRM.