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You have been subscribed to WBUR Today.</span><span class="sub-error dn">We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. You n try<!-- --> <a href="/newsletters">subscribg here</a> or try aga later.</span></div></div></div></div></hear><article class="article" data-rid="738259" data-rtype="story"><div id="gtm-visibily-50" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-75" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-100" class="gtm-pixel"></div><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp sectn--first sectn--learboard"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div></div><div id="adslot-3741"></div></div></div></div></sectn><hear class="article-sectn--tle article-sectn--island"><div class="article-actn"><h1 class="article-hdr">'A safe place.' For LGBT asylum seekers, a new shot at life Worcter</h1></div><div class="article-meta"><span class="article-meta-em--date"><span tle="Monday, December 13th 2021, 9:39:52 am">December 13, 2021</span></span><ul class="article-meta-em--thorlist article-meta-group"><li class="article-meta-em article-meta-em--thor"><a class="article-meta-lk article-meta-em--thor" href="/si/staff/the-associated-prs">The Associated Prs</a></li></ul><div class="article-share article-share-ins"><a href=" & target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share on Facebook"><svg class="in in-facebook" viewBox="0 0 128 128" role="img" width="24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">facebook</tle><path display="le" d="M120.1,0H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8v112c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h60.4V78.2h-16V59.8h16V43.9 c0-14.6,8.9-24.3,26.4-24.3c7.7,0,13.1,0.9,13.1,0.9V37h-12c-5.3,0-8,3-8,8.2v14.5h18.7l-2.7,18.4h-16v49.7h32c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V8 C128.1,3.6,124.5,0,120.1,0z"></path></svg></a><a href="mailto:?body='A safe place.' For LGBT asylum seekers, a new shot at life 'A safe place.' For LGBT asylum seekers, a new shot at life Worcter" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share by email"><svg class="in in-email" viewBox="0 0 128 128" width="20" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Email</tle><path display="le" d="M64.2,86.3l-64-48V104c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h112c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V38.4L64.2,86.3z M64.2,72l64-48 c0-4.4-3.6-8-8-8H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8L64.2,72z"></path></svg></a></div></div></hear><sectn class="article-sectn--lead-image article-sectn--lead-image--standard"><figure class="article-fig" style="aspect-rat:1000 / 667"><picture class="article-fig-ner"><img class="article-image" src=" alt="Pastor Judh Hanlon, of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church, and -founr of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, speaks on a phone at a home recently renovated by the mistry task force, Worcter, Mass. (Steven Senne/AP)"/></picture><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">Pastor Judh Hanlon, of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church, and -founr of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, speaks on a phone at a home recently renovated by the mistry task force, Worcter, Mass. (Steven Senne/AP)</figptn></figure></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--ntent hang-punctuatn article-sectn--first article-sectn--centered article-sectns"><p class="">The church volunteers assembled furnure and hung ratns the newly renovated apartment buildg. They laid out nearly every necsy, down to the bath towels, bed lens, okg suppli and televisns.</p><p class="">Over Thanksgivg weekend, the first rints of the home Worcter moved : three gay men seekg asylum the U.S.</p><p class="nt-medium">“I don’t even have the words,” said Ala Spyke, 26, who fled Jamai after beg ntually harassed and threatened by a lol gang for beg gay. “To e to this untry and have a safe space to pe all the hardships and trma? Not everyone has that opportuny.”</p><p class="">A Massachetts church group that's uniquely foced on support for immigrants fleeg their untri due to their sexual orientatn has opened a new, permanent home for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr asylum seekers.</p><p class="">The <a href=">LGBT Asylum Task Force</a>, a mistry of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church Worcter, raised more than $500,000 to purchase and renovate a dilapidated, three-story former group home on the cy’s well-heeled wt si.</p><figure class="article-fig size-large"><a href="><picture><img class="size-large article-image" src=" alt="Al Green, director of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, a mistry of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church, Worcter, Mass., speaks wh a reporter om The Associated Prs, Dec. 1, 2021. (Steven Senne/AP)" loadg="lazy"/></picture></a><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">Al Green, director of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, a mistry of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church, Worcter, Mass., speaks wh a reporter om The Associated Prs, Dec. 1, 2021. (Steven Senne/AP)</figptn></figure><p class="">It's the mistry's biggt vtment amid long-nng efforts to help LGBT immigrants, said Al Green, the task force’s director.</p><p class="">The group typilly ho asylum seekers rented apartments throughout New England’s send-largt cy, but as the effort has grown over the years, ’s bee challengg to ordate servic and foster muny among the new immigrants, he said.</p><p class="">The task force vers rent and provis a $500 monthly stipend for immigrants, at least until they n receive work thorizatn, a procs that n take around two years, Green said. The group also nnects asylum seekers wh immigratn lawyers, sets them up wh bank acunts and health surance, and helps prepare them for enterg the workforce, among other thgs.</p><p class="nt-medium">“We found that givg folks stabily has helped them better prepare for their asylum s,” said Green, who is also om Jamai and participated the program. “They know they’re a safe place until they n get on their feet.”</p><p class="">The church effort is one of the few programs providg wi-rangg and long-term help to LGBT asylum seekers once they’re the U.S., says Pastor Judh Hanlon of Hadwen Park Congregatnal Church, who -found the mistry.</p><p class="">Groups like the <a href=">Rabow Railroad</a> Toronto, Canada, help LGBT dividuals pe persecutn their home untri. Temporary shelters like <a href=">Casa Luz</a> Tijuana, Mexi, provi safe havens for gay and transgenr migrants on the perilo journey across the U.S. southern borr. And groups like the <a href=">LGBT Asylum Project</a> San Francis foc on providg legal help while others like the <a href=">Trans Queer Pueblo</a> Phoenix, Arizona, foc on muny buildg and advocy.</p><p class="">The church mistry started 2008, when the Uned Church of Christ ngregatn rallied to support a sgle gay immigrant om Jamai.</p><p class="">As the church’s reputatn spread, migrants om Jamai and the <a href=">dozens of other untri</a> where homosexualy is explicly outlawed began arrivg, oftentim unannounced, Hanlon said. The task force is currently assistg 21 LGBT immigrants but has helped more than 400 over the years, wh all so far wng asylum, she add.</p><p class="">Among the recent arrivals is a 25-year-old Mlim woman om Uganda who said her parents forced her to marry a man 30 years her senr after disverg she had a long-term girliend.</p><p class="">The woman, who asked only to be intified as Aisha, arrived last December after searchg onle for ways to get out of her forced marriage and learng about the church's work.</p><figure class="article-fig size-large"><a href="><picture><img class="size-large article-image" src=" alt="A 25-year-old Mlim woman om Uganda, who asked only to be intified as Aisha, ss for a photograph Wednday, Dec. 1, 2021, a hoe recently renovated by the LGBT Asylum Task Force, Worcter. (Steven Senne/AP)" loadg="lazy"/></picture></a><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">A 25-year-old Mlim woman om Uganda, who asked only to be intified as Aisha, ss for a photograph Wednday, Dec. 1, 2021, a hoe recently renovated by the LGBT Asylum Task Force, Worcter. (Steven Senne/AP)</figptn></figure><p class="">She says she appreciat the group don't impose Christiany or require her to attend church servic. “They're really acceptg me as I am, and that's been heartwarmg,” she said.</p><p class="">The new home’s openg as immigrant and gay rights activists ph Print Joe Bin’s admistratn to make good on his <a href=">mpaign promise to undo harmful polici</a> enacted unr former Print Donald Tmp.</p><p class="">The Bin admistratn has rcd a le that ma harr for migrants, cludg LGBT persons, to qualify for asylum bee of domtic abe or gang vlence, said Ari Shaw, a director at the Williams Instute, a rearch center at the UCLA School of Law foced on sexual orientatn and genr inti.</p><p class="">But other Tmp-era immigratn polici disproportnately impactg gay and transgenr migrants also rema effect, such as the e of Tle 42 of the U.S. Co to jtify nyg asylum claims om migrants based on ncerns about the spread of COVID-19, Shaw said.</p><p class="">Followg a urt orr, the Bin admistratn also recently <a href=">announced plans</a> to restate Tmp's Migrant Protectn Protols, which forced many asylum seekers to wa Mexi while their asylum claims were beg procsed.</p><p class="">The Department of Homeland Secury's <a href=">guidance</a> for rumg the so-lled “Rema Mexi” policy clus a new exemptn for gay and transgenr dividuals, although there’s ncern among some advot about how that will be implemented practice.</p><p class="">A DHS spokperson said exceptns for LGBT persons and other particularly vulnerable dividuals will be nsired se-by-se. The agency also noted that Bin issued an <a href=">executive orr</a> Febary mtg to improvg the asylum procs and battg the sexual and genr-based vlence and other “root ” of migratn.</p><p class="">DHS don't track LGBT asylum claims, but a <a href=">study </a>earlier this year om the Williams Instute timated LGBT dividuals filed at least 11,400 applitns om 2012 to 2017, wh more than half of those g om Central Ameri.</p><p class="">Overall, approval rat for all asylum applitns haven risen sce Bin took office January. Gay and transgenr dividuals n seek asylum unr the same legal tegory as those persecuted for their race, relign or polil opns.</p><p class="">Back at the Worcter home, Spyke says he’s still wrappg his head around the eedoms Ameri affords.</p><p class="">In Jamai, his fay ostracized him after fdg out he was gay and he faced harassment, even popular tourist statns like Montego Bay.</p><p class="">Now livg the U.S. for nearly two years, Spyke says he fally felt fortable enough to kiss another man public for the first time jt this April.</p><p class="nt-medium">“It felt really ol,” he said. “I’d never dare to do that Jamai.”</p></sectn></article><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"></sectn><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div></div><div id="adslot-3742"></div></div></div></div></sectn><div></div><div class="global-d-ponents onmand--is-playg"><div class="global-player"><d preload="to"></d><div class="global-player-bar"><div class="global-player-bar-left"><button class="global-player-bar-ntrol"><i class="in-play in-play--global-player-bar in-play--psed"><span class="in-play-shape"><span class="in-label" data-note="for-screen-rears">Rume</span></span></i></button><div class="global-player-label global-player-label--live"><div class="global-player-channel"><span>Listen Live</span></div><div class="global-player-tle"><a class="global-player-label-lk" href="/">Loadg...</a></div></div></div><div class="global-player-bar-right"><div class="global-player-x"><svg class="in in-close" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Close
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