04Oct
UCM Bridge Group
Friday, The Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga
AND GET INSPIRED FOR LIFE
WELCOMING CONGREGATION
The Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga is a Welcoming Congregation. This means that we work to foster acceptance, inclusion, understanding, and equity for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgendered persons of all colours, races and ethnicities, both within our congregation and in society at large.
Our Unitarian Minister and Lay Chaplains do perform same-sex weddings.
The Welcoming Congregation program is a volunteer program for Unitarian Universalist congregations that want to take active steps to become more welcoming and inclusive of individuals with marginalized sexual orientation and gender identities.
The program grew out of the recognition of existing prejudice and ignorance about LBGTQ (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender and queer) people in UU’ism resulting in exclusion from our congregations.
The program was developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Congregations must complete the Welcoming Congregation program and pass a congregational vote to affirm that they welcome the membership and active participation of the LGBTQ community. 99 percent of Canadian congregations are welcoming congregations.
Unitarian Universalism is a faith that values gender diversity and affirms the sacredness of all genders. We strive to be a religion where trans people can find a spiritual home and bring forward spiritual gifts born of a unique and valuable perspective on the world. We support our trans and gender creative children and youth, we offer rituals of healing and validation to trans people in transition, and we honor our trans leaders and religious professionals.
HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY
All members of UCM can expect to be free from harassment in all of their interactions under the church’s auspices. This policy provides definitions of harassment and details the processes for addressing complaints.
As a Welcoming Congregation, our work to foster acceptance, inclusion, understanding, and equity for all has been recognized and celebrated. Let us continue to live our beliefs, individually and corporately, every day.
