Did you know that it is illegal to be gay in 80 of the 192 countries of the world? Did you know that in some of the countries, you could be imprisoned and tortured if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender? Did you know that in some of the countries “corrective gang rape” is a common practice performed by government soldiers?

Folks at Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC (Worcester. MA) didn’t know any of that when Linford Cunningham first set foot in the church.

Linford ran for his life from Jamaica. He was active in their national underground gay rights organization called JFLAG. He was a member of an MCC church. He escaped violence by moving 14 times in two years. He was an employed and educated Christian man who only wanted to live his life as God created for him to live.

His story of getting to America includes student visas, work visas, then, running under the radar while he sought political asylum. His last job before deciding to seek asylum was found on the internet while he was at school in Minnesota. It brought him to Worcester, MA, where he found attorney Lisa Weinberg who handles political asylum cases for the ‘social group’ of LGBT people.

After a short time getting to know Linford, Lisa became aware that his mental health was crippling him from accomplishing the arduous task of documenting public ridicule, physical violence, and police brutality. Linford shared how the deacons of his church gathered around him and prayed over him for 8 hours beseeching God that the demon of “homosexuality” would come out of him. Many of his subsequent night terrors were based in his religious experiences rather than in other cultural and systemic abuses. Lisa was unable to go further with his legal case, until the religious torment was addressed.

Hadwen Park Congregational Church, UCC, has been active in advocating for equal marriage in Massachusetts. So, Lisa called Pastor Judy Hanlon, who was able to meet with Linford that same day. Many in the church will never forget this grown man sobbing at the altar during our Wednesday Lenten services in 2007. His cries were primal, guttural, and horrifying. Men and women from the congregation knelt with him and REVERSED the curse, in the name of Jesus!

As a result of the congregation's encounter with Linford, "we realized what was happening on God’s beautiful earth and organized!" says Pastor Judy. They formed a community-based LGBT Asylum Support Task Force.

The LGBT Asylum Support Task Force has, to date, helped eleven members of the queer community resettle in America. Pastor Judy says, "Six are active members in our church, contributing and serving! Hey, there is a new outreach idea, eh? Try opening your arms to the WORLD!"  The Task Force has assisted individuals from Jamaica, Uganda, Zambia, El Salvador, Ireland, Lebanon, and Iraq, and receives website, email, and phone inquiries constantly from other people in need.

Hadwen Park Congregational invites your assistance in sustaining the efforts of the LGBT Asylum Task Force.  They seek funding, speaking engagements, and prayer support.

The initial efforts as the LGBT Asylum Task Force work as been made possible by a two-year grant  from the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC. However, they are currently searching for other funding options to sustain this life-saving work. The expenses involved in each case are numerous:

• The LGBT asylum seekers cannot work (per USA government regulations) so the Task Force pays for their room and board. We have one host family and another woman with a large home who rents rooms at a reduced cost for the asylees. Sometimes, we simply have to pay the going rate for an apartment.
• Asylum seekers must have a cell phone, because they need constant access to their lawyer and to Task Force supporters. It is also an essential tool in securing documentation of their abuses from their homeland.
• Once they achieve asylum (Lisa has won all of her cases so far!), the Task Force helps them find jobs, get cars, come fully “out” (being OUT in other countries is not the same as being out in Massachusetts); find a new family and have fun!

Pastor Judy is very concerned with building visibility for these issues and the ministry.  She says, we "will come to speak whenever you call (and help us pay!)."

She also reminds us to pray "for all those who are jailed today, tortured today, trying hard to get a visa today, and who are living today in constant fear for their lives. We cannot help folks escape their country; we can only help them when they finally make it."

Right now, Hadwen Park has five people that they are helping to fight for asylum. You can read more stories from this ministry, send donations, request speakers, and write with your prayers and encouragement care of Pastor Judy.

Michael, a very wealthy Ugandan man came only with the clothes on his back in the dead of a New England winter. From socks to a computer, from a host family to commuter train tickets, from hats to mittens, the Task Force has cared for him. Michael had been terribly abused, knowing nothing of asylum, walked into a courtroom in Boston, MA, and told the judge his story. With no documentation, he lost. However, with support from Lisa Weinberg and the LGBT Asylum Task Force, he was granted asylum in March 2010 and is now free to live as God created him to live!

This is ONA in action on a global scale, changing lives, one person at a time.