Ali Forney Center raises $200K to buy Harlem Hate Church

This is amazing!

Y'all know or heard about Pastor James Manning possibly losing his church due to foreclosure. Then, the Ali Forney Center started a campaign to actually buy the church for LGBT homeless youth. The campaign was launched less than two weeks and now they have reached their goal!

Yes, through the #harlemnohate campaign, the Ali Forney Center raised $200,000 to buy the building. Executive Director and Founder of the Ali Forney Center Carl Siciliano said:

“We have been overwhelmed with support and encouragement and now have the opportunity to turn a place that has promoted hatred and violence into a safe space for LGBT homeless youth.”

I love this so much!

WATCH Pastor James Manning rants to Gods over his Church

Since he's about to lost his church, Pastor James Manning is ranting like a fool on fire. Not much of stretch, but in this video, James is really trying to win in that Best Actress in a Daytime Drama category.

Watch


Chile, please.

Go here to help the Ali Forney Center take over that hate church.

LGBT Youth Organization raising funds to buy Anti-Gay Church in Harlem

Pastor James David Manning is about to lose his church to the gays!

Since he can't pay his bills, his church will up for auction. And the sweetener is the LGBT youth organization, Ali Forney Center is raising money to take it over! From their website:

The Ali Forney Center (AFC), the nation's largest and most comprehensive organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth, announces that it is raising funds to attempt to purchase Atlah Church located at 36 W 123rd St, New York, NY 10027, which is being put up for auction due to unpaid bills and tax liens. Atlah Church has been the home of Rev. James Manning, who has notoriously utilized the sign outside the church for a series of incendiary statements inciting hatred and violence against LGBT people.

The Ali Forney Center, which currently houses 107 youths throughout NYC including 24 youths in Harlem, also provides a 24 hour drop-in center a few blocks from Atlah Church, which serves over 1,000 homeless LGBT youths per year, says its youths are victims of the hateful rhetoric of Reverend Manning and others like him.

"The biggest reason our youths are driven from their homes is because of homophobic and transphobic religious beliefs of their parents", said Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of AFC. "Because of this, it has been horrifying for us to have our youths exposed to Manning's messages inciting hatred and violence against our community. It has meant the world to us that so many Harlem residents have stood up to support our young people, and are now urging us to provide urgently needed care at the site of so much hatred. If we are able to obtain the space it would truly be a triumph of love over hatred."

AFC whose Harlem based programs provide 50,000 meals a year for homeless LGBT youth and offers interventions such as medical and mental health care, case management, educational and career services plants to utilize the Atlah site to provide housing to LGBT youths. AFC also plans to launch a catering business run and operated by its clients.

AFC hopes to raise at least $200K through an initial public fundraising effort, and will seek to leverage those funds to obtain additional support from local government, major donors and foundations. If the Ali Forney Center is not able to obtain the building, it commits to utilize any funds raised to increase its housing and vocational services for homeless LGBT youth in another site.

So far, they have raised $100,741 dollars! It seems that Atlah Church's legacy may die and a place for LGBT youth will rise from the ashes!

Please go here for more info and to donate to this historic issue.

The Church finally did something Right

The Ali Forney Center and the local Episcopal diocese came together to reach out to LGBT homeless and troubled teens.

They renovated St. Andrew's Church for 16 teens to sleep in peace.

Carl Siciliano, executive director of the center, says he's grateful for the church's philanthropic outreach.


"So many of these young people are rejected by their families because of religion," he says. "Kids come in who have been put through exorcisms, and we've had kids whose parents make them go see priests who tell them they're evil and hateful and that they're going to hell. It's a really upsetting and unfortunate situation that so many young people are put through this kind of trauma by their parents' religious beliefs, so it's very moving to see a religious organization that's able to say that these youth should be affirmed and cared for, so I'm very grateful to the Episcopal diocese of Long Island for their support."

This is so awesome. I hope this example motivates other religious groups to follow suit. Pay attention, D.C.!

source