Because TPC has already taken several steps to reach out and welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people, the WC Organizing Team, taking as its point of departure the Welcoming Congregation Handbook, has designed a relatively brief series of workshops tailored to the particular needs of our congregation. The WC Organizing Team proposes that friends and members of the congregation participate in one of the following:

• a series of five two-hour workshops OR
• a single intensive weekend workshop covering the same content (Friday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Both will be offered multiple times during the church year in order to provide as much flexibility as possible to those who want to participate. For those who may have difficulty attending the full series, or who would like to learn more, additional workshops and activities will be offered, such as:

• A teacher training for those involved with our Religions Education program.
• Stand-alone workshops dealing with specific topics, such as understanding the impact of the religious right on the politics of GBLT issues.
• A film and discussion series offered throughout the year, showcasing many of the wonderful films relevant to this process.

*Child care will be provided for all activities.

The Core Workshops:

All of the workshops will be highly participatory and interactive. The five core workshop topics are as follows:

• Workshop 1, Introduction, introduces the workshops series, provides the opportunity to learn about experiences of GLBT people through conversation with members of our community, and looks at the background of homophobia.

• Workshop 2, The Common Elements of Oppression examines 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. This workshop places the Welcoming Congregation work in a larger context of creating justice, diversity and inclusion for all people.

• Workshop 3, What We Know and How We Learned It, focuses on our attitudes towards gender and sexuality and how we learned them.

• Workshop 4, Living In-Between, addresses issues of bisexuality and transgender identity.

• Workshop 5, Closing, looks back over what we’ve learned and looks ahead to the next steps. It also examines the connections between one’s spirituality, sexuality, and gender—all of which reside at the core of our being. We will learn how GLBT people create authentic spiritual lives for themselves in part by struggling to be authentic about their sexual and/or gender orientation in a society that resists that authenticity.