Especially for my St. Luke readers, this is a project I feel meets St. Luke missions for both immigration and LGBTQ justice. The current need is that the Rainbow Defense Fund is working its hardest to raise $30,000 by the end of October to potentially bond out eight gay and transgender workers who have been in detention for over six months and have therefore qualified for bond hearings. That would allow these migrant prisoners to be released to work and be with their families until their final court ruling, and in many cases where undocumented immigrants fight deportation, they actually have a chance if they have no other criminal charges! If you would consider supporting the Rainbow Defense Fund in any way, that would be so appreciated! If you are not able to give financially but still want to support their work, please tell a friend. Their website is rainbowdefensefund.wordpress.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Rainbow Defense Fund
Through BorderLinks, I have connected with the Southside Worker
Center. This is one of
the ministries of Southside Presbyterian Church that organizes and
fights for the rights of mainly male, undocumented day laborers. One of
their main
activists, Raul Alcaraz Ochoa, has recognized the need for education
around issues of sexism and homophobia, so he and other volunteers have
been doing workshops for the past couple of years to shift attitudes in a
historically macho environment. In conjunction with the Worker Center's
Protection Network that supports the families if a worker is detained,
Raul, himself a young gay man, has
started this initiative called the Rainbow Defense Fund to support
immigrants who may be doubly oppressed by the shadows of the
undocumented life and the LGBTQ closet.
"The
Rainbow Defense Fund seeks to raise funds for the bond release of
migrant prisoners in immigration detention centers in Florence, Arizona.
Due to the high rate of systemic abuse and discrimination towards LGBTQ
detainees, support and solidarity are critical to ending the plight of
our LGBTQ friends in immigration detention." Florence is a
city outside of Phoenix whose economy is mainly supported by its four
detention centers, including both state and for-profit prisons. It seems most immigrants detained in Tucson end up there.
Especially for my St. Luke readers, this is a project I feel meets St. Luke missions for both immigration and LGBTQ justice. The current need is that the Rainbow Defense Fund is working its hardest to raise $30,000 by the end of October to potentially bond out eight gay and transgender workers who have been in detention for over six months and have therefore qualified for bond hearings. That would allow these migrant prisoners to be released to work and be with their families until their final court ruling, and in many cases where undocumented immigrants fight deportation, they actually have a chance if they have no other criminal charges! If you would consider supporting the Rainbow Defense Fund in any way, that would be so appreciated! If you are not able to give financially but still want to support their work, please tell a friend. Their website is rainbowdefensefund.wordpress.
Especially for my St. Luke readers, this is a project I feel meets St. Luke missions for both immigration and LGBTQ justice. The current need is that the Rainbow Defense Fund is working its hardest to raise $30,000 by the end of October to potentially bond out eight gay and transgender workers who have been in detention for over six months and have therefore qualified for bond hearings. That would allow these migrant prisoners to be released to work and be with their families until their final court ruling, and in many cases where undocumented immigrants fight deportation, they actually have a chance if they have no other criminal charges! If you would consider supporting the Rainbow Defense Fund in any way, that would be so appreciated! If you are not able to give financially but still want to support their work, please tell a friend. Their website is rainbowdefensefund.wordpress.
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