As many of you know, Northern Lights MCC runs a joint project with MESMAC called Rainbow Home. It is a monthly lunch for LGBT people who are seeking asylum in the UK. Rainbow Home is a safe space for fun, food and conversation. The individuals who helped us start the group chose “Rainbow” to reflect the LGBT nature of the group and “Home” because they wanted it to be a safe and comfortable place. Group members take it in turn to cook, so there is a taste of “home” each month. Those who come to the group have fled from countries where homosexuality is punishable by law; they have often experienced violence, persecution and sometimes imprisonment. Home is no longer a safe place for them to be, and they have left everything to come to the UK, in search of sanctuary. When individuals arrive in this country, they are faced with the task of proving to the Home Office that they are lesbian, bisexual or gay and that their lives are in danger if they return to their country of origin.
How do you prove you are gay? Or straight? Or bisexual? Imagine that. You are in a foreign country, perhaps speaking a language that is not your own. You have had to actively hide your sexuality in your country of origin. You have fled home with hardly any belongings. And now, in a court of law, under very intense scrutiny, you are being asked to prove that you are gay. How do you even go about doing that? If the judge believes you, you then also have to prove that you would be fear of your life if you went back to your country of origin. Being part of a worldwide denomination has been helpful in this regard. We have been able to get statements from MCCers and allies who work or who live in some of the countries where Rainbow Home folk come from and submit them as part of the documentation that goes to court. These statements show clearly what life is like for LGBT people in a particular country and have been instrumental in helping individuals get their “leave to remain” status.
Matthew 25:34 – 36 gives a list of how we are meant to behave as Christians: offer food and drink to the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. It often feels as though my life is a world away from these basic yet vital instructions. I send emails, sort out rotas, discuss budgets and write reports. I give a monthly donation to Oxfam, but I don’t notice it going out of the bank – it just happens. I love Rainbow Home because, for me, it gives an opportunity to really do what Jesus asked of us. That is blessing enough for me.
God bless
Cecilia
How do you prove you are gay? Or straight? Or bisexual? Imagine that. You are in a foreign country, perhaps speaking a language that is not your own. You have had to actively hide your sexuality in your country of origin. You have fled home with hardly any belongings. And now, in a court of law, under very intense scrutiny, you are being asked to prove that you are gay. How do you even go about doing that? If the judge believes you, you then also have to prove that you would be fear of your life if you went back to your country of origin. Being part of a worldwide denomination has been helpful in this regard. We have been able to get statements from MCCers and allies who work or who live in some of the countries where Rainbow Home folk come from and submit them as part of the documentation that goes to court. These statements show clearly what life is like for LGBT people in a particular country and have been instrumental in helping individuals get their “leave to remain” status.
Matthew 25:34 – 36 gives a list of how we are meant to behave as Christians: offer food and drink to the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. It often feels as though my life is a world away from these basic yet vital instructions. I send emails, sort out rotas, discuss budgets and write reports. I give a monthly donation to Oxfam, but I don’t notice it going out of the bank – it just happens. I love Rainbow Home because, for me, it gives an opportunity to really do what Jesus asked of us. That is blessing enough for me.
God bless
Cecilia
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