Ali Forney Center: Foreclosure Auction For Hate Church In Harlem On Hold

The auction of the anti-gay ATLAH church in Harlem, scheduled for February 24, has been put on hold temporarily via restraining order from the New York State Supreme Court.

As regular readers know, the Ali Forney Center - the largest, most comprehensive organization that addresses the needs of LGBT homeless youth - has been raising money to try and buy the church at auction and turn it into a center for those youth in crisis.

Via press release:

"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."

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 29th, 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.

You can still contribute to the fundraising effort by clicking here.