Love in the Ohio-Meadville District
Find out about Resources from the Standing on the Side of Love Campaign
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Congregations throughout the UUA are participating in the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, working together to harness the power of love to stop oppression. Congregations in the Ohio-Meadville District are also participating in this effort in many unique and noteworthy ways. So we, the OMD staff, are dedicating this edition of “OMD Up-Close” to Standing on the Side of Love in the OMD. Many of the people attending OMD’s Summer Institute at Kenyon College staged their congregational group photos standing beside- or behind- or under-or around -a stack of cardboard boxes painted with the big letters L-O-V-E. These photos were taken back to home congregations and placed on church websites and used in talks about Standing on the Side of Love. Following the Oct. 10 Multicultural conference, participants from our OMD congregations stood out on a busy Toledo street to visibly demonstrate that they are also Standing on the Side of Love. (See photo left) This coming Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, has been designated “National Standing on the Side of Love Day.” Here in the OMD, we hope that all of us, from Jamestown NY to Beckley WV, from Lyons OH to Indiana PA will take time on Feb. 14 to Re-Imagine and Re-Vision and Re-Invent Valentine’s Day as a time to demonstrate our Unitarian Universalist commitment to support the power of love to eradicate hate and oppression. What will you and your congregation do to show the world that we all Stand on the Side of Love this Feb. 14th? If you do participate in some activity or event, please take pictures and send a write up to the OMD Office. We will share these February Re-Imagining/Re-Visioning/Re-Inventing stories with our OMD congregations and with the Standing on the Side of Love Campaign. |
UU Fellowship of Wayne County Sponsors Wooster's First Gay Pride Rally
One hundred and twenty-five people publicly stood on the side of love Sunday, October 4 in Wooster, Ohio when they waved rainbow flags, sang, and were inspired and challenged by a transgendering college student, parents of gay children, local ministers, and members of Ohioans for Marriage Equality (OME) at a downtown Open the Door to Equality Rally.
At Wooster’s first-ever gay-rights rally, the Rev. Dr. Elaine Strawn, minister of UU Fellowship of Wayne County (UUFWC) shared the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, while others spoke of the inequality faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people, discussed understanding Biblical passages, celebrated the recent gains made both in the country and Ohio, and challenged participants to continue their efforts to be out, whole and active. Members of UUFWC choir sang and other fellowship members played instrumental music.
Standing on the opposite side of the street were a few protesters with signs with Biblical quotes; another held a sign out the window of a vehicle. But protest only sharpened the focus of the celebration supporting individuals in their efforts to define their sexual orientation or gender identity, working for LGBT equality, valuing the talents and perspectives of all, and standing in support of fairness and understanding.
OME, a group allied with UUFWC, along with the UUFWC Social Action Committee; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Wooster; and the College of Wooster Allies & Queers organized the Rally followed by a potluck dinner. Participants signed the Standing on the Side of Love petition, met and socialized with each other and were entertained by comedian Jenny Grimsley with music by UUFWC members.
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UU Akron Welcoming Congregation Team Works to Promote Acceptance and Love
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron has been Standing on the Side of Love! Through the efforts of its Welcoming Congregation Team (part of the Social Action Coalition), UUCA has been involved in several efforts to promote acceptance, love, justice, and equality in the past year.
In June, an intergenerational group of us marched in the Cleveland Pride Parade and then we staffed a booth at the festival, spreading the word about UU as a welcoming place for all. In October, our team organized and led a special 12:30 service on National Coming Out Day, entitled, Coming Out: Spiritual Process and Action of Spirit. This collaborative service celebrated the coming out process as a spiritual journey--not just for LGBT individuals but also for straight allies and for congregations. We also explored the coming out process as a significant action for equality, highlighting the National Equality March, and sharing ideas about the many actions--from the very personal to the political--we might take to continue our work for justice and equality.
On November 15, our Welcoming Congregation Team organized and led an event during our fellowship hour in recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance. The brief ritual started with a processional of about twelve people. As we made our journey out the side door and around to the main entrance, the idea emerged for us to start singing together, and a quick decision was made. We began several verses of Holly Near's "We are a Gentle, Angry People." As we re-entered the building and made our way into the Fellowship Hall to invite others to join our processional, we were united in singing "We are gay and straight together." By the time we re-entered the McKeeman Room--lit with candles for each person killed due to anti-transgender prejudice or hatred in the past year--we had a group of over 25. The name of each person killed was displayed at the front of the room in bright colors. Some basic educational information on Transgender Day of Remembrance and the diversity of people affected was given and then a prayer with words of hope and action were offered. While listening to a recording of "True Colors," at the end of the ritual, attendees spontaneously took hands with one another and sang out with Cyndi Lauper: "...so don't be afraid to let them show...your true colors...are beautiful, like a rainbow." It was quite emotional and powerful for all! For more information on TDOR: www.transgenderdor.org/?page_id=4
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Urban Hope UU Community Sponsors Children's Garden Program
UUs from the Cuyahoga County area are "standing on the side of love" with a children's community garden program on Cleveland's west side. The program is the work of Urban Hope, an inner city UU community, and is led by Liz Erickson, a member of the Kent UU church. This past garden season was the eleventh year of the program in the Community garden on West 38th and Franklin. Volunteers show fourth graders from Kentucky School building across the road, how to plant in spring and harvest in fall. During the summer, students from the school in K-5 sign up for the once a week program in the early evening. Adult volunteers come from West Shore, South West, Society as well as Urban Hope. This has been a wonderfully rewarding opportunity for children (Hispanic, African-American and more) and adults to share the experience of a garden and its spiritual and practical results. The most popular activity by far? Cooking the produce on a camp stove and eating it!
Here are photos from the Spring program with Buhrer school, which moved back to its new building this Fall. We are now working with Paul Dunbar students, using the building now while their new school is being built.
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Part of 4th grade class working with Cathy Ross, volunteer from West Shore |
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The Power of a Shirt in Standing on the Side of Love
By Rev. Rose Edington and Rev. Mel Hoover
UUC in Charleston adopted Standing on the Side of Love as its slogan in 2006, and it appears on the back of our t-shirts. You can imagine how pleased we were when the UUA adopted it, too! We wore our shirts to City Hall when the vote was taken to ban discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation – a bill introduced by UUC member and Charleston City Council person Marc Weintraub. Mel Hoover, co-minister of UUC, wore his UUC t-shirt when he made presentations in support of the city legislation.
Our efforts led to being the first city in West Virginia providing non-discrimination rights to citizens who are GLBT. We still have work to do on the State level – and our shirts will go with us.
Last June, religious fundamentalists attempted to disrupt the Gay Pride parade and festival when their leader followed the parade, bellowing scripture passages through a bullhorn. Even more disturbing, some members of this group focused on verbally accosting and insulting people with children. Several of the children were scared by their tactics, and a number of parents were frustrated about what to do. No one wanted to get into a shouting match with them. When police were asked to intervene, they indicated it was a public event and that free speech issues applied as long as they did not physically accost anyone.
UUC had a booth located near the entry to the festival – a prime place for the disrupters to rudely impose their message on the crowd. They were asked several times to please move on. Eventually, you could feel the tension building up. Physical confrontation was potentially likely. Revs Rose Edington and Mel Hoover co-ministers of UUC were staffing the booth at that time and sensed that if something constructive wasn’t done, someone might get hurt.
Rose says, “I was mad. I saw them harassing children, getting into the faces of parents, telling the parents how bad they are. So, I just decided to let our shirts speak for themselves and not say a word. I walked in front of the man with the bullhorn and his group, and turned my back to them so they could read ‘Standing on the side of love.’” Almost immediately Mel got behind the group, with his back to them, so when they turned around, they read his shirt, too. They were caught between love. And they got quieter and less verbally abusive.
Mel picks up the story: “Then Rose and I started moving backward, into the space they were walking in, narrowing their space. The bull horn message of hate stopped, although the group continued walking. As they moved towards Rose, I stepped in; and as they moved towards me, Rose stepped in. Their circle became smaller and smaller. Soon there was only space for the group to stand still between us. They stopped making noise and quietly dispersed. It was as if they didn’t know what to do with our message and the peaceful confrontational approach we used.” After they left, a number of people thanked UUC for standing on the side of love.
West Shore UU Church Marches in Pride Parade
On June 20, 2009, West Shore participants in Cleveland's Lesbian-Gay-Bi-Trans PRIDE Parade & Festival wore "Standing on the Side of Love" t-shirts. The "O" in Love is the Flaming Chalice. West Shore's Queer & Allies group had a booth at the PRIDE Festival featuring buttons, bumper stickers, and UU literature.
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Standing on the Side of Love Resources
SSL Day - Re-imagining Valentine's Day
Valentine’s Day Announcement from Standing on the Side of Love: Sunday, February 14th, 2010, will be “National Standing on the Side of Love Day.” Join us and celebrate a Valentine’s Day re-imagined. With so much fear and hatred permeating the fabric of our communities, this will be a day when we reestablish our communal bonds by demonstrate love for our neighbors. We will act as publicly as possible, so that our actions are noticed by far more people than join us in person. National Standing on the Side of Love Day could shift the entire national dialogue on the key issues that we are facing both locally and nationally.
Congregations across the nation will participate in a day of worship, faith outreach, and partnership with interfaith partners and/or community organizations. National Standing on the Side of Love Day allows each congregation to take action on issues that matter locally, and to pursue strategies that are effective and meaningful to them. Events will be tied together by central messaging, materials and support. We fully recognize and affirm that many congregations already have wonderful plans for Valentine’s Day and that you are unable to change course. But for those of you who would like to take part or to modify existing plans you can find more information at http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org.
November is the Launch of the Charter for Compassion
In November 2009 the finalized version of the Charter for Compassion will be "Launched" in a major event. Religious people from around the world are invited to join in this launch by sponsoring special events and activities. The UUA is one of the partner groups for the Charter for Compassion. You can learn more about the charger at: http://charterforcompassion.org/learn/partners/
UU congregations are welcome to participate in any way that they choose. Please post your plans at the Charter for Compassion website, and let the UUA know what you’re planning to do as well: international at uua.org, subject line: "Charter for Compassion event.
There’s an RE Art Project suggestion. http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/leaderslibrary/147086.shtml
UUA Blog at http://uuasocialjustice.blogspot.com/2009/08/charter-for-compassion.html
Standing on the side of love posted a video by Nate Walker: http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/blog/why-compassion-why-now/
Many UUs have posted the charter video on twitter and Facebook and made comments about it.
Important Dates
Our calendar for the year is a loose framework that builds towards certain major days of action while maintaining the flexibility to be relevant to the pressing issues of the moment. Our current calendar will include different levels of action for the following days. This list is not comprehensive and it is always subject to change.- November 20, Transgender Remembrance Day
- December 10–18, Shine a Light from Coast to Coast, National Days of Interfaith Action for just and humane immigration reform, a partnership with the New Sanctuary Movement
- February 14, Valentine’s Day, Love that Changes the World
- Spring, Standing on the Side of Love with Immigrant Families
Grants for Congregations
The Unitarian Universalist Fund for Social Responsibility has set aside $25,000 for matching grants for congregations engaged in the SSL campaign. Grants will be between $500 and $1,500 and available on a rolling basis. Preference will be given to congregations working in community and interfaith partnerships to actively change the public dialogue and public policy. For more information, visit our website, www.StandingontheSideofLove.org.
Friday Calls!
Every Friday at 1pm EDT/EST (12PM Central; 11AM Mountain; 10AM Pacific), you can join SSL campaign conference call web‐casts. Campaign staff and SSL activists present campaign progress, programs, tools and congregational successes. You can learn about each week’s call and register for the calls on our website www.StandingontheSideofLove.org/fridaycalls.
Merchandise
On our website, www.StandingontheSideofLove.org, you can find both a retail and wholesale store. At our retail store you can buy small quantities of a wide variety of items and personalize them to your liking. At our wholesale store you can buy buttons, bumper stickers, brochures, wallet cards, placards, banners, and shirts in bulk.
