WELCOMING CONGREGATION WORKSHOPS

8:45 – 10:15 AM, January 20, 27, February 3, 10, 17, and 24

In preparation for seeking Welcoming Congregation status for Northlake, Jim Mason, Alice Cain, and Nayer Taheri will be leading a series of six workshops for the general membership of Northlake UU regarding attitudes and actions toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals and issues. We hope that you all will be able to attend some or all of these workshops. All of us have something to learn from each other, regardless of our personal backgrounds.

Specific topics of the various workshop meetings will include:

Jan. 20: Introduction and Expectations; What We Have Learned and How We Learned It. Specifically, how do we as individuals learn about sexual identity, both in the community and as it relates to us?

Jan. 27: Gender Socialization and Homophobia. How did our own gender socialization process influence our development of sexual stereotypes, and our beliefs about ourselves?

Feb. 3: Racism and homophobia/heterosexism. How has racism and the attitudes of various racial communities affected how open individuals are about their sexual identities and our attitudes about them?

Feb. 10: History. A brief overview and discussion of the civil rights movement and how it has affected attitudes toward and treatment of sexual minorities.

Feb. 17: Bisexuality and Biphobia. How do our attitudes toward bisexuals differ from our attitudes toward other sexual identities?

Feb 24: Transgender Identity: What it Means. Discussion of the various transgender identities and issues.

Mar 30, 9:30 AM: "What Next?". Now that we have completed the WC workshop series (and the Beyond Categorical Thinking Workshop as well), what is left to do to make Northlake a truly welcoming congregation? And what is left to do before we can apply to the UUA for official recognition as a Welcoming Congregation? I went to a workshop at AGM on this topic led by Rev. Keith Kron who heads up the LGBT office at the UUA. He gave me some good tips for what we should do next. I have invited the WC workshop participants, plus Jenny from the Membership Committee, Linda and Sarah from the Worship Committee, and Shannon and Tracy from the RE community. Hope you all can make it. - Jim

What Now? Changing our Attitudes and Actions. A basic discussion of where we go from here, as individuals and as a congregation. How can we become more inclusive in our attitudes, language, and actions?