Pastor Isabel Marquez opens the door to asylum seekers at OLUMC (David Taffet/Dallas Voice) Hundreds of immigrants each week pass through the Oak Lawn church on their way to a new life DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writertaffet@dallasvoice.com A Columbian couple had time to spare before their flight from Love Field.
So Dorothy, the volunteer who was taking them from Oak Lawn United Methodist Church to the airport, stopped off with the two men at JR.’s.
She said their eyes lit up with delight when she explained this was a gay bar. In their home country, they had never seen anything like it before.
Then she pointed out other gay bars on the block as well as Sue Ellen’s, the lesbian bar right next door. After their lives had been threatened because of their sexual orientation in Columbia, the asylum-seekers finally understood they were going to be safe in the U.S.