Interweave at UUI

Heartland Interweave is the UUI chapter of Interweave Continental, an independent affiliate organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association, working in our congregation to raise awareness of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender issues and to make UUI a safe, warm, and welcoming place for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Sunday Morning Forum

The fourth Sunday of every month, Interweave hosts a discussion forum (see upcoming topics) from 9:15 - 10:15 am prior to the Sunday morning services. All are invited to attend these lively discussions.

REEL GENDER: Transgender Film Series

The first Friday of every other month, Interweave shows a film exploring themes of gender identity and expression in the Cottage from 7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. Join us for the movie and stay for light refreshments and lively informal discussion afterward.

Welcoming Congregation

On November 9, 2003 we became a Welcoming Congregation!

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, gender identities and expressions. UUI has offered this workshop in the past with several members in attendance. Future workshops may also be held. If you would be interested in participating in a workshop, please contact UUI Interweave.

Of the 16 Unitarian Universalist congregations from Indiana listed in UUA's congregation directory, seven (7) are welcoming congregations:

• First Unitarian Church of South Bend
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie
• Unitarian Universalist Church-Lafayette
• Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Wayne
• First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Terre Haute
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianpolis
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington

Welcoming Congregation resources and materials are developed and maintained by the UUA Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns (OBGLTC). The OBGLTC offers the following actions steps as a guideline for UU congregations wishing to undertake this important ministry. (After each step, the specific action UUI has taken is listed in italics.

Action Steps to Becoming a Welcoming Congregation

Education

1. Offer religious education that incorporates bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender life issues, including the workshop series from the Welcoming Congregation Program.
   
   The Welcoming Congregation Adult RE series was presented Fall 1999 and had approximately 25 participants.
   
   
2. Promote participation by the congregation’s minister, religious education minister or director, president, and/or moderator in the Welcoming Congregation Program.
   
   The Minister co-presented the Welcoming Congregation Adult RE course.
   
   
3. Offer a congregation-wide workshop program(s), with follow-up opportunities for study and reflection.
   
   Interweave is offered on an on-going basis the 4th Sunday of each month, and the meeting announcements and contents are published in the UUI bulletin each time the ‘Eye’ is published.
   
   
4. Use the Unitarian Universalist sexuality education program, Our Whole Lives.
   
   This program is used and transgendered, bisexual, gay, lesbian speakers are part of the curriculum presentation.
   

Congregational Life

1. Form a broad-based Welcoming Congregation committee to offer programs and monitor progress.
   
   This committee is a part of the Interweave group.
   
   
2. Adjust congregational bylaws and other relevant documents to include an affirmative nondiscrimination clause concerning membership, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals.
   
   The UUI Board of Directors has modified the bylaws to include the necessary verbiage.
   
   
3. Use inclusive language and content as a regular part of worship services, and provide worship coordinators and speakers with guidelines on inclusive language.
   
   This is part of the worship service effort, culminating in a sermon devoted entirely to Welcoming Congregation 3/30/03.
   
   
4. Provide main worship space and ministerial services for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender rites of passage, such as services of union and dedications of children.
   
   This is done on an on-going basis.
   
   
5. Welcome bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender persons in the congregation’s brochure.
   
   UUI has no brochure. Welcoming Congregation brochures are available in our Meeting Hall. Also, the UUI website is going to be revised to includes a page for Interweave and will be revised with glbt welcoming statements.
   
   
6. Ensure that publications, public information, and programming reflect the requested status of any individual as s/he sees appropriate; recognize same-gender couples in directories and other publications as they desire.
   
   Same-sex and transgendered couples are included in the UUI Directory, with partners cross-referenced.
   

Community Outreach

1. Celebrate and affirm bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender issues and history during the church year (possibly including Gay Pride Week in June or National Coming Out Day in October).
   
   UUI has formed an Interweave subcommittee to plan a Pride Day booth display for 2004. There wasn’t enough time this year to plan a booth and properly stock it with brochures.
   
   
2. Participate in and/or support efforts to create justice, freedom, and equality for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people in the larger society.
   
   Interweave has had speakers from PFLAG, the transgender community, cross dressers,same sex couples, among other topics.
   
   
3. (again) Provide main worship space and ministerial services for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender rites of passage, such as services of union and dedications of children. (This guideline is also listed as number 4 under Congregational Life.)
   
4. Establish and maintain contact with local bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender groups to offer support and promote dialogue and interaction.
   
   Representatives of transgendered groups, gay, lesbian, and bisexual groups all attend Interweave.
   
   
5. Advertise in the local press and/or other media that reaches the bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender communities.
   
   A subcommittee has been formed to devise advertising in the local gay/lesbian press.
   
   
6. Provide use of building space on an equivalent basis with other Unitarian Universalist organizations when requested by members for programs and meetings of an Interweave (Unitarian Universalists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns) chapter.
   
   Interweave meets regularly at UUI and has for approximately 3 1/2 years in its current form.
   

An additional note:

Once a congregation feels it has achieved all applicable action steps and has taken a congregational vote in affirmation of being recognized as a Welcoming Congregation, a brief description of how each action step was met should be sent to the OBGLTC along with notification of the congregation's completion of their process. Upon receipt of this information the Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns will send the congregation a letter of congratulations, along with a poster that proclaims that they are a Welcoming Congregation.

Please note that the OBGLTC does not ask for a brief description of how each action step was met in order to "rate" a congregation's work, but rather to keep ourselves informed as to the good work being done in our congregations and to provide ideas for other congregations involved in the Welcoming Congregation process.

About the UUA Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns (OBGLTC)

The OBGLTC is an office of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations’s Identity-Based Ministries Department serving member congregations as they seek to be welcoming to bisexual, gay, lesbian and/or transgender persons, and move toward the transformation of society.

Visit OBGLTC on the web.

About Interweave Continental

Interweave is a membership organization affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association, dedicated to the spiritual, political, and social well-being of Unitarian Universalists who are confronting oppression as lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender persons, and their heterosexual allies; and facilitates the celebration of the culture and lives of its members.

Visit Interweave Continental on the web.