Homosexual Persecution
An interview with FNUR co-manager Talcott Broadhead.
By Ross Reynolds & Matthew Streib
Aired at 10:51 am Thursday, July 17, 2014 on 94.9 FM – KUOW/NPR – Seattle, WA
Read the article and listen to the KUOW/NPR podcast at:
http://kuow.org/post/flee-or-die-olympia-quakers-support-ugandas-underground-railroad
Talcott Broadhead, Friends New Underground Railroad co-manager (social worker, author, illustrator, publisher, parent, professor and activist) is interviewed by Ross Reynolds on KUOW, 94.9 FM – Seattle News & Information – NPR Radio – airing today, Thursday, July 17, 2014 from noon – 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Ross Reynolds and Marcie Sillman on The Record, 7/17:
Major David Tucker on returning from the warzone, and Olympia Quakers organize an “underground railroad” for gay people in Uganda.
Talcott Broadhead says: “Only lgbtq Ugandans know what lgbtq Ugandans need. We are honored to support their needs through this crisis.”
Listen live: http://kuow.org/programs/record
Most show segments are available online and as podcasts by 5 p.m. the day that they air.
Talcott Broadhead:
email: talcottbroadhead@friendsnewundergroundrailroad.org
website: http://www.talcottbroadheadmsw.com
By Christian Walters – Towleroad – 07/15/2014
“The plight of gay Ugandans is well-known here, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. A group of Quakers calling themselves Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR) formed to take action and help gays and lesbians in Uganda escape persecution.”
Read the whole article and please read the comments too:
http://www.towleroad.com/2014/07/quakers-form-underground-railroad-to-ferry-gays-out-of-uganda.html
We are now raising funds for the planned escape of 25 LGBT individuals who were thrown out of two Ugandan “safe” houses by their landlords.
We want to do that immediately, as they are currently harbored close to a location where a large anti-gay rally – led by evangelical preachers – is being held in the next several days.
Our conductor fears that any revelation will result in a large mob action and/or attack.
It will cost us $55 per individual (plus a little bit for fund transfer fees) to get them to a safe place in another country, where they will be provided with food, housing, medical, psychosocial, legal, and visa support services.
UPDATE Wednesday 07/16/14: We are close! We need about $600 more today, and if we get it, the 25 will be able to leave. Please help if you can. And please share this. Thanks, Gabi Clayton
To make a donation with PayPal, click here:
Or send a check. See how to do that on this page.
Contributions to Friends New Underground Railroad/Safe Passage Fund through Olympia Friends Meeting are tax-deductible.
Please share this appeal with your friends, colleagues, and any people or groups you know of who can help with donations. If people want more information, please direct them to the FAQs page on our website: http://friendsnewundergroundrailroad.org/faqs/ and let us know if you need other information.
Thank you,
Gabi Clayton
Friends New Underground Railroad Co-Manager
and Co-Clerk of Olympia Monthly Meeting‘s Peace and Social Justice Committee
[Friends New Underground Railroad] “… is work we would prefer not to do. We are doing it because we were asked to by people who had direct threats on their lives,” says one organizer, who took the pseudonym Levi Coffin II in honor of a Quaker associated with the original Underground Railroad. “Names were read out over radio stations, with broadcasts calling for their arrests, imprisonment, castration, and sterilization. They have been many incitements to mob violence. People have been burned out of their homes (and burned themselves), thrown out of their jobs, expelled from schools. Hospitals are refusing to treat LGBTQ individuals.”
While he’s grateful they’ve been able to help individuals, Coffin doesn’t call the project a success. “It is not a win. It is not an answer. It is what we can do.”
Read it at:
http://www.newnownext.com/today-in-gay-15/07/2014/
One of the Ugandan conductors we work with assisted 22 seminary students to get out of Uganda, which we mentioned in “Overview and Update – June 7, 2014” on our blog .
That work was confirmed by an outside (press) source in a June 26, 2014 Dutch article, “RK-Bisschop Oeganda geeft namen homoseksuelen aan politie”
which is posted online here: http://kerknieuws.nl/mobiel/artikel.php?i=27374
Thanks to a Google Translation, the sentence that confirms our work is:
“These students are, according to sources in Uganda now fled to Kenya where they are still hiding.”
And the last we heard from one of the people we work with is that eighteen of the seminarians are now in Europe.
American Quakers are Running an ‘Underground Railroad’ to Help LGBT Ugandans Flee
Newsweek – By Zoë Schlanger – Filed: 7/11/14 at 11:45 AM
“A group of American Quakers are operating what they call a “new underground railroad” to help a few LGBT Ugandans flee their country, where a recent law imposes harsh penalties for homosexuality.
“The Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR), based in Washington state, sees itself as continuing the work of Quakers who historically helped slaves escape the American South.”
Read the article and comments:
http://www.newsweek.com/american-quakers-are-running-underground-railroad-help-lgbt-ugandans-flee-258363
A Group of Quakers Has Established a “New Underground Railroad” For LGBT Ugandans
Higher Learning: The Knowledge Exchange – July 13, 2014 – by mbiyimoh g.
“In February, Uganda enacted arguably the harshest anti-gay legislation in the world.
“The Anti-Homosexuality Bill not only makes same-sex intercourse punishable by life in prison, it also puts people in prison for not reporting homosexual activity within 24 hours.”
Read the article:
http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/07/13/a-group-of-quakers-has-established-a-new-underground-railroad-for-lgbt-ugandans/
Quakers have ‘underground railroad’ to help gay Ugandans escape the country
by Nick Duffy – Pink News – 11th July 2014
“The Friends New Underground Railroad smuggles LGBT people out of Uganda
“A group of Quakers have formed an underground network to help gay Ugandans escape the country.
“According to Buzzfeed, members of the religious group – also known as the The Religious Society of Friends – have formed an organisation called the Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR) to help smuggle gay people out of Uganda.”
Read the whole article and comments:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/11/quakers-have-underground-railroad-to-help-gay-ugandans-escape-the-country/
Thank you to reporter J. Lester Feder who did a lot of research about the Friends New Underground Railroad project for this article which came out today:
But human rights activists in the region aren’t cheering
Posted on July 10, 2014, at 4:35 p.m. – J. Lester Feder – BuzzFeed Staff
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/american-quakers-have-created-an-underground-railroad-in-uga