Home
About Us
Activities
Adult Religious Education
Building
Calendar
Calendar
Find Us
History of UCN
History of UUism
Links
Membership
Minister
Services
Social Justice
Welcoming Congregation
Youth RE Program

 

Copyright 2002, Unitarian Church North

 

Unitarian Church North:
A Welcoming Congregation
 
What is a Welcoming Congregation?
UCN’s Welcoming Congregation Initiatives
Official UUA Recognition
UCN Board Resolution on Same Sex Marriage
     

What is a Welcoming Congregation?

A congregation that publicly and successfully welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has the following qualities, among many others:

  • Includes and addresses the needs of LGBT persons at every level of congregational life - - in worship programs, social occasions, and rites of passage - - welcoming not only their presence, but the gifts and particularities of their lives as well;
  • Assumes the presence of LGBT people and celebrates this diversity by having inclusive language and content in worship; and
  • Seeks to nurture ongoing dialogue among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual persons, and to create deeper trust and sharing.

Additional information is available at the UUA’s Welcoming Congregation website [http://www.uua.org/obgltc/wcp/wc1expln.html]

UCN’s Welcoming Congregation Initiatives

Our congregation has been engaged in Welcoming Congregation activities since 2001. These activities have included the following:

  • the Weaving the Fabric of Diversity program
  • an outing to Cedarburg High School's production of "The Laramie Project"
  • volunteering at Pridefest
  • several films in the Multi-cultural Film Series
  • two summer Sunday services
  • the six-session UUA curriculum "The Welcoming Congregation"
  • a March 2004 Sunday service and subsequent half-day workshop, "Love and Liability: LGBTQ People Among Us," both led by a local LGBTQ activist and educator.

UCN provides space and services to LGBT people and has had ceremonies of same-sex marriage and of child dedication for children of LGBT people.

We also participate with Action Wisconsin, a group whose mission is “advancing and protecting the civil rights of our state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens and their families.” We are part of the Action Alert system and take action as appropriate.

Official UUA Recognition as a Welcoming Congregation

On May 2, 2004, the congregation voted 75 to 0 (with one abstention) to seek official Welcoming Congregation status from the UUA. On the basis of that vote and a detailed, 3-page application delineating our Welcoming Congregation work, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) officially recognized UCN as a Welcoming Congregation in November of 2004.

This official UUA recognition validates UCN as a safe space for LGBT people, confirms that we take positions on oppression in our larger community, corroborates our ongoing outreach accomplishments, and signals these purposes to all, both within and outside the congregation.

The bottom line is this: UCN is committed to being a welcoming congregation. People of all ages, racial and cultural identities, sexual and affectional orientations, and religious backgrounds are welcome here.

Resolution on Same Sex Marriage by UCN’s Leadership Board

As the logical next step in the Welcoming Congregation process, the Leadership Board passed the following resolution at the March 14th, 2005 Board meeting:

BECAUSE Unitarian Universalists affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person; and
BECAUSE marriage is held in honor among the blessings of life; and
WHEREAS many states, the Congress, and the President of the United States are acting to void the recognition of same-sex marriages and to deny “full faith and credit” to such marriages in any state;
WHEREAS debate about legally recognized marriage of same-sex couples has focused on the objections of certain religious communities, while the Unitarian Universalist Association has adopted numerous resolutions over the last twenty-six years supporting equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons, including support of Ceremonies of Union between members of the same sex; and
WHEREAS the Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association have voted their support for the right to marry for same-sex couples;
THEREFORE be it resolved that the Leadership Board of Unitarian Church North in Mequon, Wisconsin, supports legal recognition for marriage between members of the same sex.

In the summer of 2006 the Leadership Board of Unitarian Church North officially opposed the Wisconsin state constitutional amendment banning civil unions and same-sex marriage.