leona
Humble Servant of All
In the Bahamas a pastor instigated people to harass me. Many people made my life so difficult I attempted suicide in 2000, thinking God had abandoned me. God rescued me from suicidal thoughts but the situation got worse when police officers got involved. They followed me & joined many people from different churches, job sites ( mall, downtown stores, taxi drivers etc.) in telling people the pastor outed me as gay & I turned against the pastor. They told people I was gay when I told some young school girls who worked with me in the church, not to sleep with men to get money from them since they have turned to Christ. At that time many men in the church were hitting on them. The men complained to the pastor & the pastors got upset. This is a strong cultural demonic stronghold in the islands, that men feel it is God who made them to dominate women of all ages & that means sexually. So for years rape cases never went to court, sex with a minor is looked at as a joke.
Well, I was beat up & forced to perform oral sex. I was denied food stamps whiles out of work. Men & women yelled at me on the streets & outside my room door if I was staying somewhere. I was constantly distressed & struggled to handle this emotionally & spiritually. I felt I did the right thing & was being slowly killed for it. But God was with me.
I fasted to come to the US & I'm here. Now, every church I've visited,save one, know of & love my former pastor. I stayed with my parents who was on the pastors side not my own. I went to Chapman Partnership & they told them I was gay. I went to a church whiles there & one of the pastors knew of my former pastor as a regular speaker to the Mens' Conference & turned the church against me. The same 'she is a lesbian started there at the shelter.' So much so that the same tactics were used, embarrassing men & women who liked me to stop talking to me & girls saying I was staring at them. The case worker stopped helping me & I was sent to a temporary shelter.
All this time I'm trying to get legal help for my immigration status.
I left & moved to another shelter in another county. I visited a church & the pastor was a Jamaican who stayed in the Bahamas with one of the men who threw me out of his efficiency. They stopped helping me. I found a shelter/half way house which I had already had their help in finding. I got a call from three different women from the church I used to go to & they stopped calling when they found out where I was.
Now, the problem is serious here. I have to go to different areas to collect donations or sell a paper that supports the shelter & pays for my stay here & get a commission from the rest. Areas that are friendly to me are very religious areas or/and heavily black areas where many people from the Bahamas & Jamaica reside. Now, the same thing is happening again. People have stopped supporting me in these areas where certain men are telling them I'm not a believer but gay.
I've seen 2 people, one from each of the other shelters I've been to, show up here for short stints.
I am also called a liar of course, so help is hard to come by. I have no money & need help but lawyers want to work with Cubans & Haitians only which are easier cases.
I've read that what I went through with police is considered torture.
I am fasting for God to help me with my status, to get asylum & to be vindicated.
Well, I was beat up & forced to perform oral sex. I was denied food stamps whiles out of work. Men & women yelled at me on the streets & outside my room door if I was staying somewhere. I was constantly distressed & struggled to handle this emotionally & spiritually. I felt I did the right thing & was being slowly killed for it. But God was with me.
I fasted to come to the US & I'm here. Now, every church I've visited,save one, know of & love my former pastor. I stayed with my parents who was on the pastors side not my own. I went to Chapman Partnership & they told them I was gay. I went to a church whiles there & one of the pastors knew of my former pastor as a regular speaker to the Mens' Conference & turned the church against me. The same 'she is a lesbian started there at the shelter.' So much so that the same tactics were used, embarrassing men & women who liked me to stop talking to me & girls saying I was staring at them. The case worker stopped helping me & I was sent to a temporary shelter.
All this time I'm trying to get legal help for my immigration status.
I left & moved to another shelter in another county. I visited a church & the pastor was a Jamaican who stayed in the Bahamas with one of the men who threw me out of his efficiency. They stopped helping me. I found a shelter/half way house which I had already had their help in finding. I got a call from three different women from the church I used to go to & they stopped calling when they found out where I was.
Now, the problem is serious here. I have to go to different areas to collect donations or sell a paper that supports the shelter & pays for my stay here & get a commission from the rest. Areas that are friendly to me are very religious areas or/and heavily black areas where many people from the Bahamas & Jamaica reside. Now, the same thing is happening again. People have stopped supporting me in these areas where certain men are telling them I'm not a believer but gay.
I've seen 2 people, one from each of the other shelters I've been to, show up here for short stints.
I am also called a liar of course, so help is hard to come by. I have no money & need help but lawyers want to work with Cubans & Haitians only which are easier cases.
I've read that what I went through with police is considered torture.
I am fasting for God to help me with my status, to get asylum & to be vindicated.
