Becoming A Welcoming Congregation

Our Congregation’s Story

1986 – Our Congregation’s historians believe that the first conversation around “gay issues” came about in 1986 with the hiring of our first professional part-time minister, the Rev. Will Main who identified himself as a gay man on his résumé. The Search Committee reported that his sexual orientation did not arouse debate, although it was casually discussed. Rev. Main resigned after nine months. There was some difference of opinion about the reasons for his resignation. A consultant from the Thomas Jefferson District came to help the Fellowship¹ process the difficulties. The consultant reported that the members of the Fellowship had acted in good faith in this matter

1991 – The Rev. Catherine Snyder, a Presbyterian Minister, served the Fellowship as a part-time minister. She helped the Fellowship become more inclusive through changes in language and the support of gay rights “until they have equal access to the same privileges as the rest of us.” This was a conscience-raising time for the Fellowship. Ethel-Marie Underhill, a member of the Fellowship, also worked to make our friends and members more aware of the resources available to congregations through the Unitarian Universalist Association. (UUA)

1993 – Ethel-Marie Underhill and Kelly Wright, another member of the Fellowship, attended a national “Interweave” conference to learn about the goals of this UUA program designed to help congregations become accepting of gay and lesbian people. Twelve people from the Fellowship participated in a march in Washington DC for Gay Freedom and Liberation.

1995 The Rev. Rudi Gelsey began his part-time ministry. He encouraged openly gay people to attend, and there were several gay women couples in the Fellowship

1997 – Ethel-Marie Underhill and two other members of the Congregation, Derry Hutt, and Eric Leveille, began a series of meetings using the available UUA Welcoming Congregation curriculum. 40 people attended the first of the six sessions. There was much enthusiasm with a good representation of people who identified as gay or lesbian. There were small group exercises in which people explored their experiences and feelings. Members of the Fellowship were asked to complete a questionnaire, which revealed that many people were still uncomfortable with this issue. The discussion leaders were not happy with the curriculum materials, which they felt did not adequately include the gay perspective. With attendance decreasing after the New Year and the promise of an improved curriculum forthcoming, it was decided not to complete the 12 sessions.

1998 – Ethel-Marie Underhill gave her sermon “Your Daughter is a What?” In this sermon she shared her experiences as the mother of a lesbian daughter. She won the UUA Interweave Sermon Award and presented it at General Assembly (GA). She was invited to be guest speaker at several Unitarian Universalist churches. (Her sermon is available in both written and audio forms on the GA Web site. Ethel-Marie Underhill and Bobbie Littlefield attended the national Interweave conference in Orlando, Florida to learn more about how our congregation could become more welcoming to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) people.

1999 - The Social Action Committee sponsored a movie series about prejudice reduction, which included issues about sexual orientation. The Committee supported Irene Lamb’s training with the National Coalition Building Institute. She presented 25 workshops in the community about prejudice sensitivity/reduction which included discussions if prejudice and insensitivity toward GLBT people. Rev. Rudy Gelsey resigned in 1998. As a part of the Congregation’s preparation to begin the search for a new minister, the Department on Ministry sent consultants to discuss the Fellowship’s willingness to be open to candidates of different backgrounds, physical abilities and sexual orientations. The Congregation was very willing to do so. In the spring Rev. Christine Brownlie was called as a full-time minister.

2000–2001 Two attempts were made to offer the new Welcoming Congregation curriculum during this time, but there was not enough interest to continue the groups. Our Social Action Committee encouraged the Congregation to participate in a national “Solidarity Sunday” to show support for GLBT people. . Rainbow ribbons were handed out for people to affix to their name tags. This has become an annual tradition. Discussions continued and over time the friends and members of the Congregation became more comfortable with GLBT people. Members of the Congregation’s youth group joined with other local students to form a “Gay-Straight Alliance” club at the local high school. This created some controversy in the community. Rev. Christine Brownlie and other members of the Congregation stood with the students in a show of support at public meetings. Our youth group members have continued to support openly gay youth and our youth group advisors have also given support to high school youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or who are questioning their sexual orientation.

2002 - Rev. Brownlie became active in the Virginia Tech Campus Ministers Association and, along with Rev Catherine Snyder, was a strong advocate for the rights of GLBT students.  She was invited by the Dean of Students to be a speaker at a campus rally against hate crimes after the death of a gay man in Roanoke. She was a speaker at the "Red Ribbon Dance" held by the Virginia Tech GLBT student organization. Rev. Brownlie also performed several “Services of Union” for lesbian couples.

2003 - The Social Action Committee circulated a petition within the Congregation to protest the refusal of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors to approve the hiring of the well-qualified partner of a lesbian who was hired for a high-level administrator position. (It was a routine practice for the qualified spouses of heterosexual administrators or other high-level positions to receive a job offer.) Other churches and groups in the community took up the effort to force the Board to grant the equal treatment to these women. After much discussion and controversy, the Board of Visitors reversed its decision.

In the face of increasing interest in the justice issues facing GLBT people, our congregation decided to pursue becoming a “Welcoming Congregation. A couple that helped to spearhead a similar effort at Luther Memorial spoke to a gathering of friends and members of our Congregation. The response to this presentation indicated that there was enough interest to restart the Welcoming Congregation program. Fellowship member Bob Underhill took on the leadership role. The Welcoming Congregation Committee and the Minister presented a kickoff Sunday Service to the Fellowship in September. Initially ninety-two people signed pledges to attend at least four sessions of the workshops that were offered. Following a Justice Empowerment Workshop in the fall of 2003, held for UUC members, sponsored by the UUA and the Social Action Committee, an Equity Task Force was formed to assume the role of leadership in community advocacy on GLBT and similar issues involving discrimination.

In October of this year, Rev. Brownlie was invited to speak at Virginia Tech about why it is important for straight people to be allies of GLBT people and also to participate in a panel presentation during sponsored by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) during national “Coming Out” week.

2004 The Congregation became an outspoken advocate for the legal right of same-gender couples to marry. Rev. Brownlie was asked to lead a much publicized protest wedding ceremony designed to call attention to the discrimination of Virginia’s marriage laws and the proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman. On February 15, Rev. Brownlie gave a sermon itle What is Marriage For?, and on March 11 a letter by Rev. Brownlie titled Society needs to rethinkits rules on marriage was published in The Roanoke Times. A Congregational vote in April to allow the Congregation to apply to the UUA for status as a Welcoming Congregation was unanimous! An article about our journey and our vote appeared in the May 4 issue of The Collegiate Times. (Our proposal was approved by the UUA.)

Despite initial difficulties and a lack of interest in these issues, our congregation has evolved to become a leader in the New River Valley, advocating for the rights of all people to equal treatment under the law. We are determined to keep up this fight until this dream is realized.

Addendum At the UUC Congregational meeting in May 2006, the Congregation passed a resolution in opposition to the proposed Virginia Commonwealth “Marriage” amendment. Here is the text of that proposal. (The amendment passed.)

History completed spring 2004 by the Welcoming Congregation Committee and revised by Rev. Christine Brownlie, Dean Mook, and Arthur Snoke in 2008.