LG BTQ + R E L AT I O N S H I P S W I T H G O D
J U LY 2 0 2 2
RELIGION
Providing Refuge A church group in Massachusetts opens a permanent home for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. BY REV. CATHERINE DEARLOVE
In
the current climate of polarization and hostility towards the LGBT community and asylum seekers, it is unusual to see anything being birthed that would support either of these disenfranchised groups of people. However, the LGBT Asylum Task Force (LGBTATF) has had a ministry that helps LGBTQ asylum seekers from all faith groups for 14 years. LGBTATF is a ministry of Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC in Worcester, Massachusetts that welcomes LGBTQ asylum seekers of all faith traditions.
This program started in 2008 with a welcome to one Jamaican gay asylum seeker who was referred to them by someone who had heard this church supported marriage equality. The community set about providing him with support, housing, clothing and other things that he needed to settle into the community until he was able to support himself. It has now leapfrogged into helping over 400 LGBT asylum seekers from more than 20 countries in the past 14 years. A new asylum seeker is not allowed to work in the USA until all their paperwork has been approved which can sometimes take longer than two years. This means they are on their own from a governmental perspective once they are
REV. CATHERINE DEARLOVE is Senior Pastor at Trinity MCC in Gainesville, Florida. Although a Christian minister, she has a strong appreciation for all journeys of faith or philosophy and wrote her Masters dissertation on Inter-religious Dialogue. She is currently the Chair of the Campus Multifaith Cooperative at UF and coordinates the Alachua County Faith Leaders Alliance. Rev Catherine has lived in the UK, Australia and now USA and has spent most of her life as a social justice warrior and advocate for the integration of sexuality and spirituality. Rev Catherine believes faith is a journey and should never be static.
ILLUSTRATION BY TAI111 VIA ADOBE STOCK
EMBRACE MAGAZINE
78
