CHICAGO, May 21 (UPI)

A homeless shelter in Chicago is being accused of discrimination for telling a lesbian woman it was full up when it actually had two beds available. Michelle Wang, 27, says she was forced to spend the night outside Nov. 1 in unseasonably cold weather after being rebuffed by New Life Interim Housing, The Chicago Tribune reports. The Rev. Bud Ogle who co-founded the Christian ministry that runs the shelter said he believes an inadvertent clerical error was at fault. Wang says when she called New Life seeking a bed she accidentally blurted out that she was a lesbian. After being put on hold, she was told there were no beds available. The Chicago Department of Human Services learned from New Life that it still had two beds available the day Wang called according to a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. The ACLU has lodged city and state discrimination complaints on behalf of Wang and plans to file a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court.

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