September 2008

The CLF is an Official UUA “Welcoming Congregation”

At their last meeting, the CLF board of directors unanimously voted to request official Welcoming Congregation status from the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Concerns. In a letter from the UUA, the Rev. Keith Kron, Director of the Office of BGLT Concerns, said, “It is with great pleasure that I inform you that your congregation may be recognized officially as a Welcoming Congregation.”

Dan Kane, the CLF’s ministerial intern, put together a report for the board that was later submitted to the UUA. The report, entitled Woven into the Fabric, contained many of the materials created by and for the CLF that show the CLF’s ongoing commitment to BGLT concerns. From the report: “We all began our conversations from a place of recognizing the fact that being “welcoming” and “affirming” of BGLT folks, families and their concerns is woven into the very fabric of the CLF itself. Hence participating in the Welcoming Congregation Program is not as much about making the CLF a welcoming congregation as it is confirming and institutionalizing that fact.”

Many thanks to Dan for his excellent work, and to Pam Oliver-Lyons and Dan Schlorff, and the other CLF members before them, who have so strongly promoted the idea that the CLF should be an official Welcoming Congregation. You can read the whole report at the CLF’s new Welcoming Congregation page, or call Lorraine at the CLF office for a copy (617-948-6166).