Rainbow Alliance
The Rainbow Alliance supports the LGBTQ community both within UCE and in the broader community. We are meeting via Zoom. Please check the UCE Newsletter for dates and times. All are welcome to attend our meetings! To be added to our mailing list for updates, contact Jordan Strueber or Lizzy Powers through the Realm Membership Directory or at admin@ucevanston.org.
Join one or all of our events:
Resources
Center on Halsted – Community center dedicated to advancing community and securing the health and well-being of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people of Chicagoland.
Side with Love – The UUA’s public advocacy campaign promoting respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person through advocacy, public witness, and speaking out in solidarity with those whose lives are publicly demeaned.
The Trevor Project. Hotline: 866-488-7386
Welcoming Congregation
A Unitarian Universalist Welcoming Congregation is a congregation that has intentionally spent time engaging in programming, worship services, and education to make their congregation a safe place for the LGBTQIA+ communities.
In the 1980s and 90s, when the word “welcoming” became a code word for a safe space for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, the Unitarian Universalist Association launched a Welcoming Congregation Program to help us learn how to undo homophobia in our hearts and minds, our congregations, and our communities.
1997 UCE was certified as a UU Welcoming Congregation.
UCE has followed the UUA program and has been granted the status of “Welcoming Congregation.” UCE has audited its practices of welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and has worked toward increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations. As the UUA states, “Our vision goes beyond the Welcoming Congregation Program. By taking this first step, we hope to explore more issues such as sexism, racism, ableism, and others. Being a Welcoming Congregation can act as a catalyst to learning more about ourselves and to ending exclusion. Only when we are truly open to the wealth of diversity in our world will the inherent worth and dignity of every person be affirmed with a large voice.”
2016 The Unitarian Church of Evanston holds the status of a “Welcoming Congregation” within the Unitarian Universalist Association and continues to follow a course of study developed by the UUA to uphold that status. As a Welcoming Congregation, UCE pledges to address the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people at every level of congregational life, and celebrate the lives and loves of all people in the spirit of the first principle of Unitarian Universalism. The Welcoming Congregation program initiated by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a volunteer program for congregations to become more inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people. The goal of the program is to reduce prejudice by increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations.
March 2024 UCE formed Welcoming Congregation Renewal Working Group and will be going through the process to renew its Welcoming Congregation status. To join the Working Group, please contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.
The UUA has updated its Welcoming Congregation certification to now address transphobia in addition to homophobia, and Welcoming Congregations are being invited to engage in a Welcoming Congregation Renewal process. This process encourages congregations to intentionally spend time engaging in programming, worship services, and education to make our congregations a safe place for people of all gender identities and gender expressions in addition to the previous focus on making congregations a safe place for people with all sexual orientations.
News & Updates from Rainbow Alliance
Transgender Lending Library
Six books are now available for sign-out on transgender issues, as put together by the Rainbow Alliance. Ranging from historical perspective to fiction, from bios to personal essays, from adult to children, in their own way all present a truth worthy of exploration.
Available for sign-out now. Look for them on the new lending library shelves.
Transgender History: Covers the history of the transgender movement from the mid-20th century through 2008. The first chapter includes a useful vocabulary breakdown. There’s an extensive resources list for other materials.
Gender Outlaws: the Next Generation: A personal look at the lives of a range of transgender folks. Essays, commentary, comic art, and conversations, all of which explore what gender means. Written by Kate Bornstein, who authored the original Gender Outlaws. Kate’s collaborator S. Bear Bergman is an award- winning author, storyteller, and performer.
Gender Failure: a creative book with alternating biographical essays. Includes song lyrics, photos, and art. Spoon, an indie folk-electronic musician, writes of the difficulties of dating when questioning one’s identity. Coyote, an author and spoken-word performer, writes of the decision to get a bilateral mastectomy.
Red: A Crayon’s Story: A picture book that makes the point to be true to your inner self, despite the opinions of others. A blue crayon mislabeled red tries to live up to the expectations of others who want him to conform to what red is. A new friend offers a fresh perspective that makes all the difference. Works as an uplifting story for children (pre-school through kindergarten) and as an allegory for adults.
10,000 Dresses: about a gender-variant child’s struggle to become who she feels she is inside. Bailey dreams about magical dresses but no one appreciates her passion. When Bailey meets Laurel, her life changes. NOTE: some reviewers thought negative elements in the story were not resolved. We advise you read Dresses before sharing with your child. Elementary reader level.
Symptoms of Being Human: the teen offering in our compendium. A debut novel in which Riley, the protagonist, is tagged an “it” in high school. Riley identifies as gender fluid and is forced to decide if they should come out when their anonymous blog attracts threats. Deals with many teens’ feelings of isolation.
Welcoming Congregation
UCE has followed the UUA program and has been granted the status of “Welcoming Congregation.” UCE has audited its practices of welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and has worked toward increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations.
As the UUA states, “Our vision goes beyond the Welcoming Congregation Program. By taking this first step, we hope to explore more issues such as sexism, racism, ablesim, and others. Being a Welcoming Congregation can act as a catalyst to learning more about ourselves and to ending exclusion. Only when we are truly open to the wealth of diversity in our world will the inherent worth and dignity of every person be affirmed with a large voice.”