Unitarian Universalism and Sexual Orientation

Unitarian Universalism And Sexual Orientation

Unitarian Universalism and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) have a long-standing tradition of welcoming LGBT people. The first ordained minister of any religion in the U.S. or Canada to come out as gay was the UU Minister James Stoll in 1969. There have been UUA resolutions supporting people regardless of sexual orientation since 1970. Unitarian Universalism was the first denomination to accept openly transgender people as full members with eligibility to become clergy; in 1988 the first openly transgender person was ordained by the Unitarian Universalist Association. The UUA has had a popular program for a church wanting to become a "Welcoming Congregation" for LGBT people since 1989. UUA has officially supported UUA clergy performing Services of Union between same-sex couples since 1984, and has supported same-sex marriage since 1996. In 2002, Sean Dennison became the first openly transgender person in the Unitarian Universalist ministry called to serve a congregation; he was called to South Valley UU Society, Salt Lake City, UT. In 2004 UU Minister Rev. Debra Haffner of The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing published An Open Letter on Religious Leaders on Marriage Equality to affirm same-sex marriage from a multi-faith perspective.

The UUA maintains an Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns (which operates the Welcoming Congregation program). It was the first denomination to open an Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns. There is also a fellowship of LGBT Unitarian Universalists and supporters called Interweave Continental. Interweave is an affiliate of the UUA. Any UU church desiring to become a Welcoming Congregation must meet the requirements set out in The Welcoming Congregation Handbook, by the UUA Office of Bisexual, Gay Lesbian and Transgender Concerns. Once the requirements have been met, the UUA designates that church as a Welcoming Congregation and adds an icon to the listing in the UUA Directory. Usually, the Welcoming Committee evolves into an Interweave Chapter. Each chapter requests financial and advocacy support from the fellowship with which it is connected.

The Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) similarly operates a Gender and Sexual Diversity Monitoring Group and, like the UUA (of which it became autonomous in 2002), has Welcoming Congregations. The Canadian Unitarian Universalist congregations perform same-sex marriages and the CUC supports this work through its Lay Chaplaincy program.