Scott Ellis, the director of “You Can’t Take It With You,” the soon to open “Elephant Man,” and the forthcoming “On The Twentieth Century,” is offering two tickets to each of these shows, AND a tour backstage to meet the casts, for the winners of a raffle to benefit the Ali Forney Center, a Harlem-based nonprofit that helps homeless LGBTQ youth.

There is also a benefit screening on Wednesday, December 3 for the Center of the film *Brother Outsider,” a documentary about activist Bayard Rustin, a gay man who was Martin Luther King Jr’s main adviser in the civil rights movement. Presenting the film will be the filmmakers and Walter Naegle, Rustin’s life partner.

You can purchase the $5 raffle ticket(s) and/or the ticket to the movie online here. until 5pm on Wednesday Dec. 3rd.

If you go to that link, you’ll see there’s an extra satisfaction in contributing to the Ali Forney Center. Harlem Against Violence & Homophobia, the group sponsoring the raffle and screening, was formed in response to a series of shocking homophobic messages on a marquis owned by a church on Lenox Avenue, ATLAH Ministries.

An example:

Other signs they’ve put up:

“Jesus Would Stone Homos”

“Harlem is a Sodomite free zone.”

“When the homos bullied the poor and the needy in Sodom the way they do in Harlem, Jesus fire and brim-stoned them.”

“While we cannot force ATLAH to change their sign, we hope that we can counter their messaging in a positive way by raising funds and awareness for the Ali Forney Center (AFC) in Harlem….” (Here’s an article in the Daily News about the fight.)

“Even if you don’t win, your donation helps us resist hate in our neighborhood and helps us support homeless LGBTQ youth.”