“Remmy was a lawyer in Uganda who
arrived in the U.S. in January. She attempted to flee to Kenya after her
sexuality was discovered by her husband, but he tracked her down and brought
her back to Uganda. She managed to make her way to the U.S., but in March her
partner who had fled to Ghana was caught and imprisoned by old neighbors. Remmy
received numerous threats that if she didn't return to Uganda they would kill
her partner.
Hoping it was a bluff, she stayed
put. The mob set fire to her partner's home and burned her
alive.”
(Metro West Daily
News, May 2, 2016)
This is the kind of horrific threat
that many LGBT people around the world live with every day. More than 80
countries have criminalized homosexuality. In many countries, mobs
harass, threaten, and even murder people for their sexual preference or gender
identity.
The LGBT Asylum Support Task Force, based at the Hadwen Park Church in
Worcester, has offered safe havens and financial assistance to more than 130
people from 16 countries over the past 8 years. First Unitarian has
supported the Task Force though its 50/50 offertory in the past and will do so
once again on Sunday, September 25. We hope that First U members will
continue the generosity that they have previously shown to this important
organization.
In June, the Old South Church honored Task Force co-founder Pastor Judy Hanlon
with their Open Door Award (along with Senator Elizabeth Warren). “I have
kind of what you might call a huge crush on you,” the Rev. Anthony Livolsi told
the women, “in the way you two go toe-to-toe with evil, the way you square off
against injustice.” (Boston Globe, June 11, 2016) The Open Door Award is
presented annually to a person or persons who have worked to kick or pry or
elbow doors open for members of the LGBTQ community.
Pastor Judy said, "It's
presented to someone who kicks or pries or elbows the door open, but I don't
feel like I've done that. I've just been on the other side of the door.
People who have kicked open the door are the asylum seekers themselves. They've
experienced things I could never imagine”.
We are all on the other side of that
door. We have the blessings and the resources to help the asylum seekers
who have made it through that door, escaping the terror of their home
countries.
The principles of our faith call on us to recognize the inherent worth and
dignity of every person, to seek justice, equity and compassion in human
relations, to affirm the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and
justice for all. Your generous financial support of the Task Force and
the LGBT asylum seekers they serve is a wonderful way to live out these
values. Please be generous when we ask for your support of the
50/50 offertory on Sunday, September 25.
For more information on the Task Force, please visit their website at http://www.lgbtasylum.org/ .
Ken Mandile
