Welcoming Congregation

Rainier Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation affirms, promotes, and celebrates the full participation of all persons in all of its activities without regard to age, gender, sexual orientation, race, or any other category of exclusion.

What does it mean to be a Welcoming Congregation?

RVUUC is proud to have earned the distinction of Welcoming Congregation from the Unitarian Universalist Association. RVUUC has taken steps, including congregational vote, to achieve this distinction in awareness, inclusion, and justice, which works to ensure that our church community is a welcome place of community, service, and worship for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people.

Read more about the UUA and BGLT people, marriage, and their families.

A congregation that publicly and successfully welcomes bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT) people has the following qualities:

• Includes and addresses the needs of BGLT persons at every level of congregational life -- in worship, in programs, in social occasions, and in rites of passage -- welcoming not only their presence, but the gifts and particularities of their lives as well.
• Assumes the presence of BGLT people and celebrates this diversity by having inclusive language and content in their worship.
• Fully incorporates the experiences of BGLT persons throughout all programs, including religious education.
• Includes an affirmation and nondiscrimination clause in the by-laws and other official documents affecting all dimensions of congregational life, including membership, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals.
• Engages in outreach into the BGLT community in its advertising and by actively supporting BGLT-affirmative groups.
• Offers congregational and ministerial support for union and memorial services for BGLT persons, and for celebrations of ... family definitions.
• Celebrates the lives of all people and welcomes same-sex couples, recognizing their committed relationships, and equally affirms displays of caring and affections without regard to sexual orientation.
• Seeks to nurture ongoing dialog between bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and heterosexual persons and to create deeper trust and sharing.
• Affirms and celebrates BGLT issues and history during the church year.
• Attends to legislative developments and works to promote justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society.
• Speaks out when the rights of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people are at stake. Celebrates the lives of all people and their ways of expressing their love for each other.