Gay New Yorkers have long been subjected to a message of hate and discrimination at the Atlah Worldwide Church at 123rd and Lenox, in Harlem. The building hosts a billboard out front with messages like, “Harlem is a sodomite free zone,” “Jesus would stone homos,” and “All churches and members that support homos cursed be they with cancer, HIV, syphilis, stroke, madness, the itch, and then Hell.”
The homophobic ex-con “minister” for Atlah, James Manning, has angered his neighbors, who have repeatedly complained of the disgusting billboard. He has also evidently run the church business into the ground. This past Thursday, a New York state judge ruled that the church would be put up for auction next month for debts it has incurred of more than a million dollars.
In a wonderfully ironic twist, the Ali Forney Center, a charity that provides meals, medical care and counseling for homeless LGBT youth, has begun a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of the building. Adolescents driven from their homes by misguided parents overcome by religious bigotry may find shelter in this former house of hate.
The charity’s founder, Carl Siciliano, writes of the campaign: “AFC hopes to raise at least $200 K through an initial public fundraising effort, and will seek to leverage those funds to seek additional support from local government, major donors and foundations.”
For more information on the Center and their activities, visit:
http://aliforneycenter.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=531