by Director of Social Justice Rev. Lisa Schilansky
As a church community, we strive to live into our values of being a welcoming faith. We have been recognized as an official Welcoming Congregation, the UUA designation for congregations that have done dedicated work around LGBTQ inclusion, for the past several decades. Twelve years ago we worked together as a congregation to formally renew that commitment.
Now we have an opportunity to live into these values once again. Starting this Sunday, pronoun stickers will be available at the greeter’s station in the lobby so that everyone who chooses may add them to their nametag. We all have pronouns and these stickers will have options for she/her, he/him, she/they, he/they, they/them, or a blank space for you to fill in yourself.
If all of this information is new to you, that is okay too. We are all lifelong learners and in this supportive community we will be learning together. It is most helpful to think of gender as a spectrum rather than as a binary with male and female at opposing ends. Here at MLUC, we get to practice ways of being that will transform society, we get to model how we wish to be together beyond our walls, and we get to create a more welcoming home in an increasingly hostile world.
Taking a brief moment to add this sticker to your nametag makes clear to all who enter our doors, especially to those in the LGBTQ community, that we are a congregation that wants people to feel seen, welcomed, and valued.
Visible pronoun sharing by all people is an important act of welcoming because it is not possible to determine a person’s pronouns just by their appearance. Wearing a pronoun sticker on your nametag normalizes this truth and no longer puts the onus on trans and nonbinary congregants to be the outliers identifying their pronouns.
This small act, adding a sticker to your nametag, can help make a more welcoming environment for the entire community. So, will you join me this Sunday in wearing a pronoun sticker, as we work together to make MLUC a more welcoming space?
Wishing you peace in this season of new beginnings.