Hate Church Auction Delayed, Ali Forney Center Responds

Harlem Hate Pastor Rev. James David Manning's ATLAH World Missionary Church received an eleventh hour reprieve this week when the New York State Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order staying the foreclosure auction of the debt-plagued organization's properties on February 24 pending a hearing on April 21.

The move by the court no doubt proved a disappointment for the Ali Forney Center who ran a successful fund raising campaign to purchase the church at auction in the hopes of turning it into a shelter for homeless LGBT youth.

"This development gives us more time to research the conditions of the ATLAH building and assemble the most advantageous financial package possible prior to making a bid for the building at auction" said Carl Siciliano, Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center. "While we are excited at the possibility of acquiring the building at auction, we were anxious at needing to rush quickly into this process. The temporary restraining order allows us time to gain more knowledge and strengthen our position."
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Subsequent to learning that the ATLAH church building had been foreclosed due to over $1 Million in debts and scheduled to be auctioned, AFC launched the #HarlemNoHate campaign. Since January 29, the campaign has resulted in $315K in donations towards a building acquisition fund. AFC has committed to use those funds to attempt to acquire the ATLAH site at auction in order to provide housing and vocational support to homeless LGBT youth, or to acquire another site for those purposes if unable to obtain the ATLAH site.
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"Because of the extraordinary success of the Harlem No Hate campaign, AFC will acquire new space to house and support our kids, whether at ATLAH or elsewhere. This represents a great victory for our homeless youth who will find home and safety. It also represents a great victory for our LGBT community, and our allies, who have, in standing up to protect homeless LGBT youths from ATLAH's messages of hatred and violence, demonstrated that we are a caring, compassionate and generous community. No matter the outcome of the legal hearing, our youth have already won," concluded Siciliano.