Washington D.C. opens its first LGBT homeless shelter, and California Rep. Ken Calvert might lose his seat to Will Rollins, who is a part of the LGBT community.

First LGBT Homeless Shelter Opens in DC

Muriel Bowser’s administration has created a space for the LGBT homeless in D.C. The space on 400 50th ST S.E. will primarily be taking in queer people of 25 and over beginning in August. 

The shelter has a 40-bed occupancy and will be providing services that are specifically tailored to the LGBT community.

“People experience homelessness differently, for different reasons and in different ways. People avoid homeless shelters also for a multitude of reasons,” Bowser said at the ceremony outside the facility, according to the DCist. “We know and we have seen it in the creation of our small dignified family shelters, that when we get shelter right, people will come into shelter.” 

According to DCist reporting with Point-In-Time count data presented by Department of Human Services Director Laura Green Zeilinger, approximately 7% of adults experiencing homelessness in the city’s shelter system are LGBTQ, while 18% of adults experiencing homelessness and who are unsheltered are LGBTQ.

‘It’s Poetic Justice’ - GOP Representative May Lose Seat to LGBT Democrat In Next Election

Ken Calvert vs. Will Rollins. Photos via Facebook.

For 30 years, GOP Rep. Ken Calvert has held his position in Riverside County, California. Now with the new redistricting maps, the district that had primarily Republican populated voters has now evened out with Democratic LGBT voters. 

During his public service, Calvert has made anti-LGBT remarks toward his opponents as well as his legislation, but has changed his tune.

“Calvert’s district lost solidly GOP areas such as Temecula and Murrieta while gaining liberal swaths, most notably Palm Springs, the first city in the nation to elect an all-LGBTQ city council,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

When asked about the current Supreme Court possibly overturning marriage equality, Calvert said, “It wasn’t always my position. It’s a different country than it was 30 years ago.”

Calvert is up against LGBT Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on Jan. 6 cases. 

“It’s poetic justice,” Sam Garrett-Pate, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for Equality California, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ rights, told the LA Times. “I don’t think there’s any other way to put it than what goes around comes around.”