The Welcoming Congregation program, developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), is a rigorous and completely volunteer program for congregations that want to become more inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people. It also examines the connections among one’s spirituality, sexuality, and gender—all of which reside at the core of our being.

In the year following the congregation’s vote in 2006 to seek Welcoming Congregation status, the WC Organizing Team held a film and discussion series, teacher training, and a series of workshops aimed at reducing prejudice by increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations. The workshops:

• provided the opportunity to learn about experiences of GLBT people through conversation with members of our community
• examined the background of homophobia, the dynamics of the various kinds of oppression that nearly all of us endure at some point in our lives, and the ways that oppression functions in our society as well as how it has impacted our personal realities
• focused on our attitudes towards gender and sexuality and how we learned them
• addressed issues of bisexuality and transgender identity.
  

Theodore Parker Church was granted Welcoming Congregation status in 2007.

To learn more about GLBT and Welcoming Congregation activities at Theodore Parker Church, please email the church office or leave a message. More information on the Welcoming Congregation program is available on the UUA website.