Posts Tagged ‘courageous love’

Day 5: Celebrate Love Heroes!

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Today is Day 5 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to honor Courageous Love in your community. Click here for more resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

Award recipients Sally, Pat, Scott, and Charles with Campaign Manager Jennifer Toth.

On Sunday, we got to help kick off the second annual Thirty Days of Love by awarding Courageous Love Awards to leaders at First Unitarian Church of Baltimore. “Honor Legacy” is the theme for this first week of the campaign, and it is an apt touchstone for our historic congregation. When Rev. William Ellery Channing delivered “the Baltimore sermon” from our pulpit in 1819, he shook religion at its core and defined an American Unitarianism that was serious, rational, and progressive.

It was a joy to celebrate the stories of our congregational leaders. As a group, they worked to pass marriage equality—by popular vote!—this past November in Maryland, and have also advocated for the rights of LGBTQ people for decades. Award recipients Sally Wall and Pat Montley were our public spokespersons, receiving messaging training, addressing the media, and organizing other congregations to mobilize for equality. Scott MacLeod was our principal cheerleader in the congregation, urging our people to volunteer at phone banks and door-to-door canvassing, and leading a square dance fundraiser.

Fighting for human rights was nothing new for award recipient Charles Blackburn. In 1961, he was a Freedom Rider in the south, challenging local segregation laws by riding interstate buses. In 2004, Charles and his partner were one of nine couples in Deane & Polyak v. Conoway, the suit for equal marriage rights in Maryland. That suit was lost in 2007. Our congregation’s response? We hung a banner proclaiming “Civil Marriage is a Civil Right” as a testament to our commitment to equal rights for all. This past Sunday, acknowledging that marriage equality could not have been won without our UU Legislative Ministry of Maryland, we were able to take the banner down with pride.

Any organization or individual can give Courageous Love Awards to those who exhibit “courageous love.” This is an opportunity to recognize the amazing change-makers in your community and inspire future social justice work. Click here for more info on Courageous Love Awards.

Together, let’s continue to put our faith into action, and stand on the side of love!

Rev. David Carl Olson
First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, Maryland

PS: The Standing on the Side of Love campaign hopes your congregation is participating in Share the Love Sunday! The SSL website has some helpful resources for planning your service, taking a collection to support the Unitarian Universalist Association, and discussing what it means for your congregation to rejoice in community and stand on the side of love. Thanks for your generosity on February 17!

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How will you harness the transformative power of love?

No Comments | Share On Facebook| How will you harness the transformative power of love? Share/Save/Bookmark Dec 12, 2012

“For each child that’s born a morning star rises and sings to the universe who we are.”
- Y. M. Barnwell, “WE ARE”

A star rises in hope and sings to the universe that with each child we have a chance to do better, to be better. For each candle we light there is starlight, the light of hope, the hope that we can illuminate our path, that we can brighten the future. This is no accidental imagery. These are images and metaphors that tie together generation after generation, that link us with each other. Generations have prayed that it will be better for their children, that their children will make a difference in the world. In the words of Ysaye Barnwell, “We are our grandmothers’ prayers. We are our grandfathers’ dreamings.” This is the time of the year when many faiths tell these timeless messages in story and song.

Countless traditions have these stories of optimism; the anticipation of a brighter day, the story of new life, of someone who rises to lead us forward to a place of peace and goodwill. For me, the point of these stories is not about “rightness” but instead about the underlying longing in the message. How can we love each other with all of our differences, how can we build a peaceful and sustainable world? Hope arises from our stories of birth–be it the birth of a child or the birth of the light. With the end of the season, with the unraveling of the ribbons from the presents and the trees, we revert to the familiar patterns of life that can leave our hope dormant. The breaking of these patterns takes courage–we must go beyond the borders of our comfort driven by faith in the power of love to transform injustice, ignorance, and fear.

How will you harness the transformative power of love in the New Year? Click here to find out how you, your congregation, and/or your community can get involved in the Thirty Days of Love, starting on January 19.

This year, our congregation will once again taking part in National Standing on the Side of Love Month. We will kick-off our celebration with a photo exhibit on immigration and speakers from nationally recognized immigrant justice organizations. We will provide readings and meditations for the congregation on love, compassion, and kindness. On four consecutive Sundays, we will present “Courageous Love Awards” to individuals in our congregation and the broader community who have demonstrated courage of faith and love in their actions, attitudes, and achievements. These are people who have seen new possibilities and have found ways to birth them into being. As we honor these award recipients for the work they have done, we will remind each other that we all carry this combination of hope, love, and possibility.

Please join us in participating in the Thirty Days of Love. Consider giving your own “Courageous Love Awards” in your community or congregation. Click here to learn more.

As you plan your own Thirty Days of Love, remember that “We are our grandmothers’ prayers. We are our grandfathers’ dreaming.” During the holidays and into the New Year, let us go beyond the borders of our comfort, let us have faith in what is possible, and let us never lose hope in the transforming power of love.

Rev. David A. Miller
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito in Solana Beach, California
Member, Standing on the Side of Love Creative Advisory Team

PS: Not a member of a congregation or relevant community group? Stay tuned for more opportunities to participate that are geared for individuals and families!

The message above went out on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

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Zach Wahls receives Courageous Love Award from Iowa congregation

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Zach Wahls receives Courageous Love Award from Iowa congregation Share/Save/Bookmark Apr 25, 2012

In 2011, Zach Wahls, a then 19-year-old Iowa resident and UU, made national news for his comments to the Iowa House of Representatives against a resolution that would overturn marriage equality for same-gender couples in Iowa. The YouTube video of his speech became 2011’s most watched political clip with over two million views.

On April 22, 2012, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City presented Wahls with a Courageous Love Award. In their award announcement, the congregation cited Wahls’s ongoing work for marriage equality and said, “Zach has been inspirational in his conviction and action.”

The Iowa City Press-Citizen covered the event.

At the service Sunday morning, the award presentation prompted a standing ovation among the audience, including [Zach Wahls’s] mothers, who still attend the church, which eventually broke into loud cheers. ['Iowa City church recognizes Wahls, 20-year-old receives Courageous Love award from Unitarian Universalist Society']

Last year, in an email to Standing on the Side of Love supporters, Wahls said: “I am humbled that someone thought my family’s story might be an inspiration to others across the country and have been truly touched by the outpouring of support not just for my family, but for families like mine all across the world.” He also honored the Courageous Love of his mothers:

The courageous love I want to honor is that of my two moms – Terry and Jackie. Together for 15 years, they created a loving family for my sister and me, despite living in a culture that doesn’t always treat them, or their love, as equal. In 2009, the year marriage discrimination ended in Iowa, they finally were able to get married. As my moms’ best man, I’ll remember that day for the rest of my life. Two years later, I had the opportunity to share my story and to my utter surprise, millions of people responded. I hope you’ll share yours too.

Wahls’s 2011 testimony is only one example of his advocacy and witness on the side of love. He went on to become a Huffington Post ‘Gay Voices’ blogger, write a book about his family, and co-chair the Family Equality Council’s national advocacy program for young adult children of LGBT families (“The Outspoken Generation”) with Ella Robinson, daughter of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson.

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Know someone whose words and deeds exemplify the values of inclusion, diversity, community, and equality? Share your story of Courageous Love.

Want to give a Courageous Love Award of your own? You can download a certificate here!

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Thirty Days with Celebrations of Courageous Love

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Thirty Days with Celebrations of Courageous Love Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 16, 2012

One blossoming National Standing on the Side of Love Day tradition is to lift up community members who have exhibited courageous love by presenting them with an award. During these past Thirty Days, eight congregations sent us news about the awards for courageous love they presented to outstanding individuals in their communities. If your community or congregation lifted up courageous love, or plans to, let us know so we can spread the word: email love@uua.org.

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Love Award recipient Nancy Nangeroni speaks with a First Parish congregant after the service (Credit: Ernie Kirwan)

First Parish UU, Cambridge, Massachusetts

First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, presented its second annual Courageous Love Award to Nancy Nangeroni, Chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. The award honors Ms. Nangeroni’s years of dedicated service to the transgender community, her perseverance in educating the general public about transgender life and issues, and her critical role in passing the Massachusetts Transgender Equal Rights Act. She also started a nationwide campaign to end violence against transgender people, which inspired the International Transgender Day of Remembrance held each November. Ms. Nangeroni spoke to the congregation about the struggle of the transgender community for respect, acceptance, and safety and the joy of striving together for justice. Presentation of the award was followed by song and celebration outside on the church steps beneath the congregation’s newly re-dedicated rainbow flag.

Community Church of Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Community Church gave a courageous love award to Sherre Toler in recognition of her principled stance against the upcoming anti-LGBT amendment to the North Carolina state constitution. She was the Director of Elections for Harnett County, North Carolina, for eleven and a half years, and was proud of the progress made in voting procedures and the fair and efficient operation of the Board of Elections during her tenure. But resigned her position because she believed that could not ethically remain in her position and oversee this amendment on the ballot. To celebrate her courage, the congregation made a valentine thanking her for her stand and invited members of the congregation to sign it during coffee hour.

NWUU Love Award

A Courageous Love Award is presented to Ruth Ellis Center Board Member Dr. Amorie Robinson in Southfield, Michigan (Credit: Randy Block).

Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church, Southfield, Michigan

Northwest UU Church presented a Love Award to the Ruth Ellis Center for its work with homeless LGBT youth. Ruth Ellis Center Board Member Dr. Amorie Robinson accepted the award on behalf of the organization, which is one of four such centers in the nation that serves homeless LGBTQ youth. Dr. Robinson is a noted clinical psychologist who has taught college-level women’s studies, including classes on LGBT and race issues, and is now contracted by the state of Michigan to assist schools throughout Michigan to address issues of bullying in primary schools. Northwest UU Church contributed $248.24 from their collection to the Ruth Ellis Center. In an interview, Rev. Kimi Riegel said of the congregation’s decision to honor the center, “This year in the Detroit area 2,000 teens and young adults will become homeless or at-risk because of their identity. The Ruth Ellis Center saves the lives of many LGBTQ youth within Michigan. The center provides safe space at its drop-in center and residential facility, which serves LGBTQ youth through enrichment programs, counseling and testing, and several support services.”

UU Church of the South Hills, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills chose the Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards to be the recipient of their “Love” Award for her unwavering dedication to the inclusion of LGBT people in the Presbyterian Church USA. Rev. Edwards went through three years of disciplinary action for presiding at the wedding of two women in 2005. She was acquitted by the Pittsbugh Presbytery court in 2008. While Rev. Edwards was co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians and after almost 40 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church USA changed its constitution to allow openly gay candidates to be ordained as ministers, elders and deacons.

UU Congregation of Marin, California

The UU Congregation of Marin presented its second annual Standing on the Side of Love award to the executive director of SPECTRUM, an organization that provides services to the LGBT residents of Marin County, California, during a service last Sunday. A certificate and Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt were presented to the honoree.

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Mission Peak UU congregant Beth Schaefer and Linda Wasserman embrace during a ceremony honoring the late Mayor Wasserman.

Mission Peak UU Congregation, Fremont, California

Mission Peak‘s Love Hero award ceremony honored the late Mayor Wasserman of Fremont.  The award was presented to Linda Wasserman, Mayor Wasserman’s wife. As reported by the Fremont Bulletin, “Mayor Wasserman was honored for the way he embraced diversity by appointing commissioners from different backgrounds, and helped pass a Fremont City Council resolution opposing Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage. In a time when the city’s population changed from a white to Asian majority, Wasserman encouraged the community others to respect diversity.”

First UU Society of Albany, New York

First UU Albany presented their second annual Standing on the Side of Love award to Fred Boehrer and Diana Conroy. They founded the Albany Emmaus House and the New Sanctuary for Immigrants (NSI). NSI provides free services to both documented and undocumented immigrants. Its volunteers visit jails, go to courts, advocate for worker’s rights, promote comprehensive immigration reform, and house homeless immigrants.

Prescott UU Fellowship, Arizona

Prescott UU Fellowship presented four local organizations with certificates and honorariums to honor their “courageous love.” Awards were given to the Anglo-Latino Alliance, Hungry Kids, Inc., Coalition for Compassion & Justice’s Home Repair program, and the Granite Peak UU Congregation Neighborhood Education Project.


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Day 23: My Heroine for Courageous Love

2 Comments | Share On Facebook| Day 23: My Heroine for Courageous Love Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 07, 2012

The message below went out on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 to those Standing on the Side of Love supporters who signed up for daily Thirty Days of Love emails. You can sign-up for the 30 Days of Love emails here.

My daughter is a 5th grader at a public charter school near Boston. The school was recently given an award for their anti-bullying program. That is, of course, admirable but for me it was overshadowed by the strange irony that as her school was being acknowledged for its exemplary work around bullying and oppression, my daughter was being openly and blatantly teased, derided and disrespected on campus for her stated sexuality.

She disclosed, in confidence to a school friend, that she was bi-sexual. Clearly, judging from the reactions of her peers, many didn’t know what to do with this information, didn’t really know what it meant and didn’t know, moving forward, how they should treat their classmate. Some thought it was cool and that was that. Some said to her that it was cool but then denigrated her in conversation with other students. Other students would call out to her on the sidewalk or across the schoolyard asking “Why are you bisexual?” Pre-adolescent posturing and giggles would often follow the question. No answer was expected or even desired. This experience of betrayal and public humiliation was happening daily after her stated sexuality became fodder for the school’s rumor mill and idle playground and hallway gossip.

At home, we spent many hours consoling and counseling our sometimes enraged and dejected young heroine as she wrestled through sobs and tears over the prejudices and hatred of her peers. Because we teach our daughter that silence is complicity and because she is a fiery and righteous person in her own right, we knew that she would want to speak out.

In order to celebrate her efforts in response to these incidents of bullying, I am taking the opportunity of National Standing on the Side of Love Day – a reimagined Valentine’s Day – to lift up the courage that my daughter displayed through her struggles with a Courageous Love Award.

Will you join me and lift up a story of courageous love to the Standing on the Side of Love community on the Courageous Love map:

http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/stories-of-courageous-love/

I contacted the school and challenged them to respond in accordance with their stated policy on bullying. A series of emails and conversations took place between teachers, principals and the students involved. Counseling sessions between students and a visit by the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) from the high school were planned.

Weeks later the school held its own version of Challenge Day based on the MTV series of the same name. As my daughter related her experience of Challenge Day to us it was clear that she felt supported by her school and empowered by the support of the event. Some pretty powerful in-class activities took place. “If You Really Knew Me” and “The Power Shuffle” were two such activities that she described with satisfaction. Instead of attempting to slink into anonymity my young heroine stepped up and said during the “Crossing the Line” activity, “…if you are or you know somebody who is gay, bi-sexual or lesbian, cross the line.” My proud daughter reported that pretty much everybody crossed the line and some students acknowledged it with a smile flashed in her direction.

Students still ask her why she is bisexual. She just tells them, “Because I am.” School mates who were once uncertain now defend her and ask would be aggressors, “what does it matter if she’s bisexual or not?” Awareness has been fostered on campus but there’s much work still to be done.

Do you have someone in your life–a family member, friend, coworker, minister, teacher, neighbor, etc.–that has been your personal hero for courageous love? Valentine’s Day – our National Standing on the Side of Love Day — is a week away, so send a card to your hero today to let them know how much you appreciate the impact they have had on you.

Click here to download a card (links to a PDF) that you can personalize or custom make a card yourself or with your children! You can find more resources for celebrating Courageous Love in the Event Resources section of 30 Days of Love webpage, including certificates and a place to share your story of courageous love.

Peace and light,

Tim Griffin
Online Resource Manager for the Unitarian Universalist Association

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