I am sleeping on the ground outside of Virtue Recovery right now. As a victim of trafficking and a newly sober drug addict, being homeless makes the future questionable for me. This is very dangerous, and not to mention I am deemed high risk by this facility. The man in charge whose name is Drue: Discharged me with no plan, or reason. When asked directly why I was being discharged his response was “no comment”- which is literally factual, I was removed from the premises after asking for a cigarette. With there being a whole pack in the tech office that were for clients in crisis I assumed it would not be a problem if I asked due to stress I was experiencing. However, apparently my sobriety, my life and any sort of stability I obtained are worth less than a cigarette. I’m sitting on the ground trying to stay awake in case I need to defend myself at the school next door to the facility. While staying at virtue I have endured lots of homophobia which at this point is just enabled by Drue, when I reported this the first time I was told I was being untruthful and I was shunned. Upon my return, a similar situation occurred where a fellow peer stated “he is too gay, I don’t like when they are like that”- mind you I didn’t even report it initially due to how I was treated the first time I reported discrimination. I transferred to preserve my peace my first go round, but when I was to be re-admitted to residential I chose virtue because of the love I have for many of the staff members there. This is abuse of power, and here I am on the ground ready to relapse all over asking for a cigarette and seeking advocacy for LGBT people. The sad part is part of me thinks he overheard me saying he was treating me with disrespect and I wanted to report this to his boss Gavin, and that likely resulted in my removal. I am waiting until the morning to talk to somebody who has a semblance of humanity and compassion. Drue should not be working in a place where giving people hope is the main objective, because I left with less than I came in with physically, mentally, and spiritually. I did nothing wrong, I want to come back to the program- but I feel I was casted away without cause. Please do the right thing and find somebody better for this job so this does not happen to anybody else. How I have been treated by Drue is not acceptable, I am loving and kind and every single staff member there (other than him) can voice that because I am extremely close with them. This is my life, and it’s not summer camp- I have nowhere to go, and nobody I can count on. I’m not even from Houston. How somebody can do something so heartless is beyond my grasp of understanding. I am doing everything in my life right now, and the last thing I need is somebody who is supposed to lead by example throwing a wrench in everything because they don’t want to do paperwork or be held accountable. The way I have been treated by him is not at all okay, the way he speaks to me is unacceptable, and the lack of compassion makes him the worst fit for this job. Please let me come back, I did absolutely nothing wrong and if I riffled feathers by trying to get people to be hush about their political beliefs I apologize but at no point ever have I deserved the outcome that has happened thus far. Thank you to the other staff who made my short stay here feel like home, there is no reason to de-rail my entire life, because I’m willing to change and work on myself and have been daily. I know Virtue cares, please make this right.