A Long Way From Home (Carl Siciliano)

LGBTQ+ homelessness is a global problem. At the Ali Forney Center we have seen a direct correlation between the amount of political and religious hostilities directed at the LGBTQ community and the number of teens discarded from their homes for being queer. On this episode, we have the great honor of being joined by Zuza Glowacka, Co-Founder of the Warsaw House Foundation, and Marek Szolc, member of the Warsaw City Council, lawyer, activist and one of the few openly gay politicians in Poland.

Together we discuss the climate of repression and attacks upon LGBTQ people in Poland, and the urgent need for the housing the Warsaw House Foundation will provide to LGBTQ youths there..

To Learn more about the Warsaw House Foundation and to offer support

Visit their Website:  www.warsawhouse.org

Visit their Donation Page  https://warsawhouse.org/en/support-us/

Watch a Video about WHF   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ8WS7QbaZE

Visit their Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/thewarsawhouse/

Edafe Okporo joins Carl Siciliano to discuss his struggle for self acceptance as a religious youth, experiencing severe persecution as a gay activist in Nigeria and as an immigrant in the United States, his founding the RJD shelter for refugees, and his expansive vision of global LGBTQ equality.

For more information on topics discussed in this podcast episode:

About Edafe Okporo https://www.edafeokporo.com/

About the RDJ Refugee Shelter http://rdjrefugeeshelter.org/

About Immigration Equality https://immigrationequality.org/

About the Community Health Initiative for Youth In Nigeria https://chiynigeria.org/

Emanuel Xavier is an American Latinx poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, former homeless youth, and LGBTQ activist born and raised in New York City, in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian ancestry, he emerged from the ball culture scene and Nuyorican spoken word movement to become a successful writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latinx literature. Once an underage hustler and club kid drug dealer, and later a hate crime survivor, he has performed, conducted spoken word poetry workshops, and produced benefits and events for LGBTQ youth organizations around the United States.

In this week's A Long Way From Home podcast, join Emanuel Xavier, an American Latinx poet, author, editor, former homeless youth, and LGBTQ activist, in a conversation about how LGBTQ people experience exile and displacement. Listen in as Emanuel discusses surviving homelessness on the Christopher Street piers in the 1980's while exploring ways of #FindingHome with AFC's Founder, Carl Siciliano.

AFC Founder Carl Siciliano talks with attorney, activist, and City Council candidate Alejandra Caraballo about the potentialities and limitations of legal efforts to achieve equality for transgender people, the tension between hate crime laws and criminal justice abolitionism, and the societal forces which continue to make transgender people targets of violence. Alejandra also speaks movingly about the recently deceased Lorena Borjas and how much she meant to the Trans Latinx community.

For more info:

On Alejandra Caraballo  https://www.gaycitynews.com/alejandra-caraballo-dreams-of-shattering-a-glass-ceiling-in-brooklyn/

On the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund  https://transgenderlegal.org/

On Lorena Borjas   https://www.them.us/story/lorena-borjas-mother-of-queens-trans-latinx-community-died-coronavirus

In the fall of 2010, 18-year-old Tyler Clementi left home to attend Rutgers College. At the time he was just beginning to come out of the closet. One evening, shortly after arriving, he asked his roommate for privacy. Unknown to Tyler, the roommate aimed his computer's camera at Tyler's bed and live-streamed him in an intimate act with another man. A few days later, unable to cope with the subsequent humiliation and ridicule, Tyler ended his life.

Attempting to respond to her son's death, his mother, Jane Clementi, worked to create the Tyler Clementi Foundation, which seeks to combat all bullying. While the reality of her son having been the victim of cyber-bullying dominated news reports of the suicide, Jane began to consider the role of Tyler's upbringing in a conservative Christian church-which taught that homosexuality is a sin-in shaping the shame and inner conflict that led to his suicide.

In this episode, Jane Clementi and AFC Founder Carl Siciliano discuss Jane's devastation at the loss of her son, and the journey of faith which led her to take a stand against all forms of bullying. We especially focus on the endangerment and abuse done to LGBTQ+ youths by church teachings which shame and reject LGBTQ people, and explore ways to respond to and combat that harm.

Fr. James Martin joins the Ali Forney Center’s founder Carl Siciliano to discuss promoting acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in the Catholic Church, and the dangers LGBTQ+ youths face in rejecting religious environments.

Fr. Martin has faced a barrage of insults and even death threats for his tireless efforts to heal homophobia in the Catholic Church, but his work has been endorsed by a growing number of Bishops and even blessed by Pope Francis.

Fr. Martin can be followed on Facebook and Twitter where he frequently posts about LGBTQ+ issues. He also frequently writes about them in America Magazine.

Building a Bridge is the book he has written which calls for the Catholic Church to treat the LGBTQ+ community with dignity and respect.