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Long Island Episcopalian Diocese Donates Funds For New LGBT Homeless Shelter

12/08/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Perhaps it is the course of the future that the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church will find themselves once again becoming the opposite ends of the spectrum on social issues with the Anglicans attracting many dissatisfied socially liberal Catholics while the Catholic Church slowly bleeds off the socially conservative Anglicans. Certainly the schisms that threaten to cleave both faiths in half are along those lines, and that may end up being part of how this plays out.

Certainly, the LGBT Community is not use to people coming to our aid in the name of Christ. Normally, those who do come to the LGBT Community in the name of Christ do so in order to “cure” us of our “affliction; however, that was not what happened in New York when the The Episcopal Community Services of Long Island and the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. Instead, the Episcopal Church, a branch of Anglicanism, came forward to provide some $200,000 to create a sixteen bed shelter for troubled LGBT youths, and to house that shelter in their Church of St. Andrews in Astoria, Queens. For Carl Siciliano, founder of the Ali Forney Center, the donation was a blessing which came on top of $300,000 left to the foundation by actress Bea Arthur upon her passing.

Like many of us in the LGBT Community, Siciliano is well aware of the often negative impact upon the Community as a whole, and upon youth in particular, when it comes to religion. Many religions denigrate and attack gays, lesbians and transpeople, and roughly one quarter of all LGBT youths end up on the streets. The Ali Forney Center is dedicated to providing housing to those homeless LGBT youths. According to their website “The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June of 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. We are committed to providing these young people with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met, and where they can begin to put their lives back together.”

“For a lot of us, when we hear about Christianity, our stomachs kind of churn. Another part of me is very grateful the church is making this kind of gesture,” Mr. Siciliano told the New York Times.

The move comes at a time of increased tension between the LGBT Community as a whole and most religious denominations. Recently, the Catholic Church threatened to pull all charitable services out of Washington, DC should marriage equality pass in the nation’s capital. The Catholic and Mormon Churches have been instrumental in overturning marriage rights in both California and Maine, and some have alleged- though not proven- fraud in both elections.

But, to Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano this is not about building bridges or mending fences. According to a statement given to the New York Times, “I think it’s an obligation to care for God’s people. This is basic nuts-and-bolts Christianity.”

For many gays, lesbians and transpeople on the streets, life is miserable and often full of pain. Many Christian run shelters are not much better than the streets for the LGBT American who is without a home. Many Christian charities insist upon sermonizing before meals, and are often very disapproving of any gay or lesbian going into their shelter. For transpeople, the shelters offer a nightmare scenario due to the fact that most shelters refuse to let transwomen and transmen into gender appropriate housing.

The Episcopal Church currently has two openly homosexual and partnered bishops. While this is threatening to tear the Anglican Church apart, it is also causing many dissatisfied with the harsh nature of the Catholic Church to join the Anglicans.

Pictured is the Cross of St. Andrew, most often associated with Scotland.