Carl Siciliano is the Founder of the Ali Forney Center, which he built up to become the nation’s largest organization providing housing to LGBTQ youth. He is also the author of Making Room: Three Decades of Fighting for Beds, Belonging, and a Safe Place for LGBTQ Youth. In his youth, Carl spent several years living with and serving unhoused people as part of the radical Catholic Worker Movement and spent eight months living in Benedictine monasteries.
My brief backstory with Carl is that I worked for the Ali Forney Center for the bulk of my time living in NYC where I served as their director of special events and got to see the org grow very quickly. I love the Ali Forney Center and all the folks connected to it- especially the people it serves, and reading Carl’s new book gave me a deeper perspective about the importance of this work.
We start by talking about Ali Forney, a homeless queer youth who is the namesake and inspiration behind the Ali Forney Center, and we talk about what was so profoundly impactful about that relationship for Carl.
Carl speaks of his admiration of Ali’s and their ability to own a relationship with God, describing this as the conscious divinity of Ali.
We look at what it was like to bring awareness of the plight of homeless LGBTQ youth by initiating rallies and other forms of activism, and this was a transformational moment of the consciousness of the LGBTQ community (and beyond) in New York.
Next, we dicuss the spiritual significance of supporting our most disenfranchised community members. And then we look at how Carl has contended with the hypocrisy of some religious leaders essentially doing the opposite of God’s work by creating more division rather than unity.
In addition to looking at the shadow side of religions, Carl also makes a passionate case for what queer Catholicism can look like and how it can be experienced (leaving me wanting to attend mass..!).
All these and many more topics in this very personal and inspiring interview.
Learn more about the Ali Forney Center-
https://www.aliforneycenter.org/
Check out Carl’s new book-
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Room-Decades-Fighting-Belonging/dp/0593444248
Connect with Wil-
https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/work-with-wil
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