Welcoming Congregation Program at Mountain Light
In January 2006 the Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church congregation decided to embark on a two-year journey examining issues related to homosexuality and gender identity.
Using the curriculum published by the Unitarian Universalist Association, we scheduled Sunday Services every other month during 2006 and 2007 to explore these topics. Fred Crimi and Donna Waddell are leading the Sunday Services.
Bruce Blaisdell, Janet Densmore, and Gary Kaupman serve on the planning committee. The Goals of the Welcoming Congregation are to:
1. Explore thoughts, feelings, and current knowledge about sexual orientation and gender identity.
2. Probe the origins of our beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity.
3. Test attitudes toward sexual orientation and gender identity in our church and local community and their connections to current social issues such as HIV/AIDS, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, and so on.
4. Understand the experiences of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people.
5. See the effects of heterosexism and homophobia on people of all sexual orientations and gender identification in UU congregations.
6. Explore the relationship between religion and homosexuality.
7. Devise individual and institutional strategies for MLUUC to become more welcoming to bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people and their families.
The process of becoming a Welcoming Congregation begins with the participating individuals examining their own beliefs, values, and experiences related to homosexuality and gender identity. To facilitate this process we used a self-assessment survey provided in the UUA curriculum. [Download the Attitude Survey Results in Spreadsheet format...CLICK]. We linked this survey to our e-newsletter. Participants printed, completed, and submitted the survey at church so that anonymity could be maintained.
The Sunday services focused on the Welcoming congregation process were:
January 8, 2006 "Introduction to the Welcoming Congregation Process." Followed the format in the UUA curriculum.
March 12, 2006 "What We Know and How We Learned It." Followed the format in the UUA curriculum.
April 2, 2006 Guest speaker: Chuck Bowen, Executive Director of Georgia Equality, "Political Activism in the State of Georgia on Behalf of People who are BGLT"
May 14, 2006 "Common Elements of Oppression." Followed the format in the UUA curriculum.
July 9, 2006 "The Radical Right," Guest speaker: Rev. Heather Collins, UUA minister. Rev. Collins identified passages in the Judeo-Christian Bible that are commonly used to denounce the "homosexual lifestyle."
October 1, 2006 "Gender Socialization and Homophobia", Joseph Zolobczuk, Education & Training Specialist, Yes Institute, Miami Florida.
Joseph used magazine advertisements to illustrate a point about the pervasiveness of gender role and expectations.
Video about gender and homophobia.
November 12, 2006 "Religion and Homosexuality." Followed the format in the UUA curriculum
January 28, 2007 "The Experience of Being Transgender." Guest speaker: Katz. Katz told his story about being FTM transgender and the process he is undergoing to transition to male. He entertained questions from the audience. Here is a video of Katz performing at a club in Athens, GA.
<--Katz
May 6, 2007 "How Homophobia Hurts Us All." Followed the format in the UUA curriculum.
June 10, 2007 "Bisexuality and Biphobia." We did not have a guest speaker. We could not identify anyone who openly identifies as bisexual. We used the UUA curriculum on this topic and identified our beliefs and misperceptions we have about bisexuality, concluding that probably everyone is bisexual, depending on your definition of "bisexual."
August 12, 2007 "The Experience of Being HIV Positive in Rural Georgia." Panel Discussion including Morris Griffin and Kasey Castleberry, both members of MLUUC. The responses of the congregation were, "Powerful," "Courageous," and an increased compassion and understanding of their experiences.
November 4, 2007 "Where Do We Go From Here." Will follow the format in the UUA curriculum
The next phase of the process will involve examining our church and how it functions to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every person, including those who are homosexual and transgender. The final phase will be to examine MLUUC's relationship with the surrounding community. We have already held one public meeting on September 30 titled Difficult Dialogues: Talking about Being Gay in Rural Georgia. Perhaps more public meetings will result from the planning we begin on Nov. 4th.
During the services where we discuss these topics we have some participation guidelines. They are:
1. Respect anonymity. Ask for confidentiality.
2. Set own boundaries for personal sharing.
3. Speak from personal experience. Avoid generalizing.
4. Respect differences between others, between yourself and others, and even inside yourself.
5. Use effective communication skills. Use "I" statements. Let people finish their thoughts. Allow opportunities for all to speak, particularly introverts.
Here is a document in .pdf format for easy download with lots of information about BLGT issues and the Unitarian Universalist congregations. Click HERE to download the file.
DIFFICULT DIALOGUES: TALKING ABOUT BEING GAY IN RURAL GEORGIA Public Meeting Held September 30, 2006
As a part of The Welcoming Congregation process we scheduled a public meeting to discuss being gay in rural Georgia. Posters were distributed for placing in public places, invitations were sent to several churches in Gilmer and Pickens County, and announcements were distributed to members of the local gay community. Everyone in the local community was welcome to attend and present their point of view on sexual orientation. The intention was to provide a forum where all points of view could be valued and heard. This was an opportunity to engage in a meaningful discussion about and with the gay members of our local community.
This is a topic that rarely gets mentioned in public discourse. Even members of the local gay community seldom talk about what life is like for them in rural Georgia.
The speaker and program facilitator was Joseph Zolobczuk, Education and Training Specialist, Yes Institute, Miami, FL. Joseph created an atmosphere where we could experience generous dialogue and honor divergent points of view.
Joseph Zolubczuk
The principles of the Unitarian Universalist denomination promote and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings. Many people believe that other religious denominations are not as accepting and tolerant. We hoped that this forum would provide the opportunity to dialog with community members from other faith communities.
The meeting was successful, but not in the way we had expected. As the discussion progressed we came to realize that we have difficulty talking about being Unitarian Universalists in the community. We concluded that we need to work on talking about who we are as UUs before we begin talking about what it means to be gay or lesbian (or an ally) in the community. Fred Crimi is planning to discuss with the board a retreat for the entire congregation where we can discuss our UU identity, face the fears we have about talking about being UU among the more traditional Christians in the community, and develop skills in having this conversation in our everyday lives.
