On Friday, Sept. 26, Michael Blackford, a 29-year-old homeless gay man living in San Diego contacted the Gay and Lesbian Times saying that he had been discriminated against during his stay at the St. Vincent de Paul. Blackford, who had been residing at the shelter since Sept. 8, claimed that during his stay he was repeatedly harassed by other residents and when he stood up to them he was penalized for violating the shelter’s personal conduct rules.

“One guy said that I was having sex in the bathroom,” Blackford said, “and when I flipped him off I got a point.”

St. Vincent de Paul operates on a five-point conduct system. Once someone has received five points against them they are suspended from the shelter.

“There are a number of rules, in terms of being able to get along in the environment,” St. Vincent de Paul Program Director Bernie Miles told the Times. “There’s a rule about threats or verbal abuse and sometimes in this environment we deal with people who have mental health issues. So sometimes that might happen in terms of verbal abuse.… When it gets to threats that are hands-on or physical there is zero tolerance.”

According to Blackford, he was escorted from the village by security on Friday after an altercation between himself and another resident. At that time he was not allowed to gather up all of his belongings and was told that he would not be admitted back into the shelter until after he had spoken with Miles, the program director, who would not be back in the office until Monday.

“I’m currently taking medications that require milk and food,” Blackford, who noted that he was diagnosed manic depressive, said. “Now I don’t know where I am going to eat, let alone sleep for the weekend.”

Blackford also expressed concerns over his suspension from the program, saying, “You are only allowed to not be there for three nights in a row before you loose your space.”

Because of the weekend, he assumed that he would not be in his bed for three days, and as a result would lose his space at the shelter.

Miles did confirm that the shelter does have a policy that resident who are gone for more that 72 hours lose their space, but in a situation such as Blackford’s there would be an exception because no program director was available to meet with him over the weekend. As of Monday, Miles would not confirm or deny that he had met with Blackford.

“In terms of an issue of confidentiality we get into a tenuous position in terms of confirming or denying the anonymity of our clients here,” Miles explained. “I can speak to an issue only if a client has given a consent to release. I can speak generally about issues, but in terms of the ability to talk about a specific client, that would be a breach of confidentiality.”

Currently more than 1,000 people are living in the shelter at St. Vincent de Paul Village, many of whom, like Blackford, are dealing with mental illnesses.

“There is a lot that happens in this environment,” Miles explained. “It’s never easy for anyone living in this communal environment, and at times thing do come up where folks don’t get along, and they look for a reason, just as out in the general population, to pick on people.”

Miles added, “We have a discrimination policy that addresses that there is no discrimination.… I don’t believe that in the handbook that we have that it talks about sexual orientation, but to me and any of the staff — whether it’s sexual orientation or any other discrimination or verbal abuse — it all falls under it the same and there is no tolerance for that.”

At press time Michael Blackford could not be reached for comment, but during his interview he did say that he had applied for Social Security Income and was expecting to begin receiving checks in October. At that point Blackford said that he planned to look for a permanent place to live.