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Circle Fellowship and the Welcoming Congregation

Circle Fellowship had its first gay member many years ago, and currently has gay, lesbian and transgendered members, so we have long considered ourselves to be a welcoming congregation. Perhaps because of this long acquaintance with the LGBT community we did not actively pursue the official UUA Welcoming Congregation status for a long time.

A couple of years ago the program committee (which is responsible for arranging the speakers for Sunday morning and for running the program) took a look at the Welcoming Congregation materials and found them so interesting that they decided we should pursue Welcoming Congregation status.

We have since that time fulfilled many of the requirements of the program and are working on the rest. The process has been enlightening, even for some of our LGBT members. We hope to finish the process by the end of 2008.

These are the requirements for Welcoming Congregation:

Education

Offer religious education that incorporates bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender life issues, including the workshop series from the Welcoming Congregation Program.
Promote participation by the congregation's minister, religious education minister or director, president, and/or moderator in the Welcoming Congregation Program.
Offer a congregation-wide workshop program(s), with follow-up opportunities for study and reflection.
Use the Unitarian Universalist sexuality education program, Our Whole Lives.

Congregational Life

Form a broad-based Welcoming Congregation committee to offer programs and monitor progress.
Adjust congregational bylaws and other relevant documents to include an affirmative nondiscrimination clause concerning membership, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals.
Use inclusive language and content as a regular part of worship services, and provide worship coordinators and speakers with guidelines on inclusive language.
Provide main worship space and ministerial services for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender rites of passage, such as services of union and dedications of children.
Welcome bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender persons in the congregation's brochure.