About the Welcoming Congregation Program   Our Mission Statement   What is Interweave?   Additional Resources   Symbols

The Welcoming Congregation Program is a completely volunteer program for congregations that see a need to become more inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people. It consists of a series of workshops developed by the UUA. The goal of the workshops is to reduce prejudice by increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations. Some of the workshop titles include: How Homophobia Hurts Heterosexuals; Connections to Other Forms of Oppression; Gender Socialization and Homophobia; and Biblical Perspectives on Homosexuality. Many congregations offer the workshop series several consecutive times as an adult religious education curriculum open to all members and friends. In some congregations the workshop series (and later the entire program) is sponsored by a Welcoming Congregation Task Force/Committee created for just this purpose, while other congregations sponsor the workshop series through their Interweave chapters. In either case, the workshops are best facilitated by those that have experienced the curriculum.

Murray UU Church became a Welcoming Congregation on April 11, 2004 after a congregational vote, an exercise in democracy that allowed us to formally state our desire to be intentionally welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender persons by intentionally accepting their contributions to our congregational lives.

Our Mission Statement - We are a group of concerned members of the Murray Church congregation who are exploring our thoughts, feelings and knowledge about sexual orientation and gender identification with the goal of raising the awareness of the congregation about these issues and identifying ways to reach out to the gay, lesbian and transgender community.

We publicly acknowledge and welcome bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people in accordance with guidelines established by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). We: 

Include and address the needs of b/g/l/t persons at every level of congregational life—in worship, in programs, in social occasions, and in rites of passage—welcoming not only their presence, but the gifts and particularities of their lives as well
• Assume the presence of b/g/l/t people and celebrates this diversity by having inclusive language and content in their worship.
• Fully incorporate the experiences of b/g/l/t persons throughout all programs, including religious education.
• Include an affirmation and nondiscrimination clause in our by-laws and other official documents affecting all dimensions of congregational life, including membership, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals.
• Engage in outreach into the b/g/l/t community in its advertising and by actively supporting b/g/l/t affirmative groups.
• Offer congregational and ministerial support for union and memorial services for b/g/l/t persons, and for celebrations of...family definitions.
• Celebrate the lives of all people and welcomes same-sex couples, recognizing their committed relationships, and equally affirms displays of caring and affections without regard to sexual orientation.
• Seek to nurture ongoing dialogue between bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and heterosexual persons and to create deeper trust and sharing.
• Encourage the presence of a chapter of Interweave.
• Affirm and celebrates b/g/l/t issues and history during the church year.
• Attend to legislative developments and works to promote justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society.
• Speak out when the rights of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people are at stake.
• Celebrate the lives of all people and their ways of expressing their love for each other.

Interweave: UUs for Lesbian, Gay, Bsexual and Transgender Concerns  - The mission statement for Interweave reads as follows: "Interweave is a membership organization affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is dedicated to the spiritual, political, and social well-being of Unitarian Universalists who are confronting oppression as lesbians, gay men, bisexual persons, transgender persons, and heterosexual allies. It celebrates the culture and lives of its members."

Interweave membership is open to all interested UUs of any sexual or affectional orientation. It has chapters in many Unitarian Universalist congregations and districts, as well as a Continental chapter. Membership in Interweave involves two primary goals:

• the creation of local groups for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender Unitarian Universalists for support, socializing, and sharing life issues, and

• outreach to the larger bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender community to publicize the religious alternative offered by Unitarian Universalism.

Interweave is an affiliate organization of the UUA. At both its annual Convocation and the UUA's General Assembly Interweave sponsors worship and workshops that address b/g/l/t issues and their interrelationship with other forms of oppression. Interweave also produces a quarterly newsletter. For more information about the organization please write to the address listed above.

Additional Resources

Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Concerns
25 Beacon St.
Boston, MA  02108  USA
(617) 948-6475
Email: obgltc@uua.org
Web: www.uua.org/obgltc

OBGLTC is part of the Faith in Action Department at the UUA and administers the Welcoming Congregation Program, as well as provides general b/g/l/t resources.

Symbols