Howard County churches highlight Unitarian Universalist commitment to LGBTQ inclusivity

Howard County churches open doors as ‘welcoming,’ LGBTQ-friendly congregations

Suzi Chase, 57, began her search for a faith community in spring 2014. For the first time since her marriage ended, she lived alone and felt she needed a spiritual home. Raised in a Jewish household, she said she no longer felt the religion served her faith needs and came across the website for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia.

“I have a friend who goes to UUCC, and she told me a little bit about it,” the Columbia resident said. “It sounded very attractive, and I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

Enticed by the idea of the church being a “welcoming congregation,” Chase registered for a “Get Connected Class” and found that five of the 10 women in attendance identified as queer, including the course instructor.

While attending her first weekend service, the Rev. Paige Getty preached on the topic of family, while three congregants from diverse families shared their testimonies; one was a gay man who spoke about finally being accepted by his partner’s mother.

Eyes filled with tears, it was in that moment Chase realized she had found a faith community that would accept her as a transgender woman.

Nearly 25 years have passed since the Unitarian Universalist Association, a nationwide religious movement headquartered in Boston, officially became a “welcoming” or LGBTQ-friendly congregation.

UUA, which is made up of more than 1,000 congregations, adheres to the teaching of its Seven Principles — the first being affirming and promoting the “inherent worth and dignity of every person.”

During a time when religious institutions have been pressured to include the LGBTQ community, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia is one of the many across the country to reach out.

According to Changing American Congregations, a religious survey conducted by researchers from Duke University and the University of Chicago, more churches have become welcoming to openly gay and lesbian couples. The shift, according to the survey, parallels the wider trends of acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage among the general population during the same time period.

The Unitarian Universalist Association began the process of becoming a “welcoming congregation” early on. In the 1980s and 1990s, during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, the association began using the code word “welcoming” to include lesbian, gay and bisexual people. In 1994, the association launched the Welcoming Congregation Program to dismantle homophobia and, later, transphobia within the congregation.

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