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UU The Vote For LGBTQ+ Equity

In recent years, we are witnessing a severe roll back of many LGBTQ+ protections, that so many of us worked so hard to achieve. We are calling all Unitarian Universalists everywhere to #UUtheVote for LGBTQ+ Equity because our values of interdependence, equity, democracy, and the inherent worth and dignity of all people are direct antidotes to the fear, bigotry, and inequity that define our world.

UU the Vote for LGBTQ+ Equity - Opening Prayer

Rev. Michael J. Crumpler, LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director at the UUA

Welcome from Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association

UU the Vote for LGBTQ+ Equity - Welcome and Introduction by Rev. Michael J. Crumpler

Rev. Michael J. Crumpler, LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director at the UUA

Text of introduction:

Hi. I’m the Rev. Michael J. Crumpler…the LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director at the Unitarian Universalist Association. Thank you for watching this #UUtheVote for LGBTQ+ Equality webinar video.

These have been difficult years for all of us, and especially for the queer and trans community. After achieving marriage equality, beating back the AIDS epidemic, and disrupting generations of the deeply ingrained binary conception of gender we face the potential of a drastic reversal of epic proportions that calls nearly every aspect of our lives into question. 

What is at issue goes from serving in the military, to being served at the bakery. From medical treatment in the hospital, to fair treatment at work, at school, or in the public square. Even as this government ignores murdered black trans women, this government promotes policies to disenfranchise the poor, criminalize survival economies, and stigmatize the identities of people who dare to live and move in their own truth. 

But we will not be denied, and in this video you will hear from folks who have been fighting for equality for decades, blazing the trail to equity by baring their truth in their congregation, in congressional hearings, in our nation’s highest courts, and in the streets with their voices raised and their fists held high. 

In this video conversation:

  • Rev Rob Keithan gives us a brief history of the Equality Act legislation;
  • Sunu Chandy shares what it was like testifying before Congress for the Equality Act…and tells her experience as a person of color, lesbian mother, and civil rights attorney;
  • Rev Gwendolyn Howard reveals what it was like being a member of the first generation of trans Unitarian Universalist ministers, and the hostility she faced in a faith that prides itself as welcoming;
  • J Mase details his experience working to create a spiritual canon that speaks thru and to the black trans community and the challenges they face just trying to survive;
  • Randy Block contributes his experience as a straight UU, organizing congregations to be in relationship with local non-UUs to advance the cause of equality; and
  • Brian Silva tells us about his post-marriage equality work organizing faith communities so queer and trans folx who get married on Sunday can’t get fired on Monday. 

 

Finally, you will see all of them, together with my UUA colleagues Susan Leslie and Jade Sylvan, in a generative conversation about all that is at stake in the upcoming elections and why it is so important for all of us to UUtheVote now!

This video reminds us that so much is at stake for the LGBTQ community in 2020 and beyond…

  • As conservative legislators propose bill after bill in state after state to disenfranchise our community.
  • As the Supreme Court dliberates to decide whether it will be legal to fire employees for nothing other than being queer and trans. 
  • As we endure a Congress that will not pass the equality act unless we all join together as a Unitarian Universalists, people of faith, and people of conviction to #UUtheVote in 2020. 

 

We invite you to join us to defeat the hate exacted against the LGBTQ community, immigrants, people of color, women, and the poor. 

Let us mobilize together to #UUtheVote in 2020, on the side of love, and the mission to renew our government in our image.

 

A Brief History of Equality Act Legislation

Rev. Rob Keithan, Minister of Social Justice at All Souls Church Unitarian

 

Conversation with Sunu P. Chandy

Sunu P. Chandy, Legal Director at National Women’s Law Center, shares about testifying before Congress on behalf the Equality Act, and tells her experience as a person of color, lesbian mother, and civil rights attorney.

Sunu P. Chandy's Testimony on the Equality Act before the House Judiciary Committee

NWLC Legal Director Sunu P. Chandy testified in support of the Equality Act before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Conversation with Rev. Gwendolyn Howard

Rev. Gwendolyn Howard shares what it was like being a member of the first generation of trans Unitarian Universalist ministers, and the hostility she faced in a faith that prides itself as welcoming.

Rev. Gwendolyn Howard (She/Her/Hers) – an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who’s served churches in Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts. In 2019 Gwendolyn was named minister emerita by St. Paul’s Universalist Church in Little Falls, NY.

Conversation with J Mase III

J Mase III details his experience working to create a spiritual canon that speaks thru and to the black trans community and the challenges they face just trying to survive. 

J Mase III (He/Him/His) – Black/trans/queer poet & educator based in Seattle by way of Philly. He is founder of awQward, the first trans and queer people of color talent agency.

Conversation with Randy Block

Randy Block shares his experience as a straight Unitarian Universalist (UU) organizing congregations to be in relationship with local non-UUs to advance the cause of equality.

Randy Block (He/Him/His) – Founder and Director of the Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN), a statewide UU advocacy organization that works on multiple issues and is Co-Chair of the Social Justice Committee of Northwest UU Church in Southfield.

Conversation with Brian Silva

Brian Silva tells us about his post-marriage equality work organizing faith communities so queer and trans folx who get married on Sunday can’t get fired on Monday. 

Brian Silva (He/Him/His) – Founder and Executive Director of National Equality Action Team who has been a leader in the LGBTQ+ advocacy community for more than a decade.

#OurDayinCourt SCOTUS Rally - October 8, 2019

Activists and faith leaders gathered in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community for #OurDayInCourt on the steps of SCOTUS to send the loud and clear message: All LGBTQ+ people should be able to make a living, and support themselves without fear of discrimination at work!

For more information contact [email protected].

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From our work for marriage equality, women’s suffrage, the abolition of slavery, for civil and voting rights, to advocating for a path to citizenship for immigrants, to taking on the ‘New Jim Crow’ and white supremacy today.

Unitarian Universalists have a legacy to carry onward.

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