When Welcome Fails: Conversations on the Margins
Have you ever attended a Unitarian Universalist congregation because you heard or hoped it would be welcoming to people like you, and then had a profoundly unwelcoming experience? Us too. Do you want to be in conversation with others like us about what real, radical welcome requires?
Let’s talk. The Transforming Hearts Collective is working on a pilot program for congregations that truly want to transform their culture into one where queer, trans, black and brown, disabled, poor and working class, and otherwise marginalized folks aren’t just welcome but are centered. Where no one has to leave any piece of themselves at the door. Where the goal isn’t inclusion, it's liberation.
We want to have soul-deep conversations with others who have struggled to feel welcome/belonging in UU spaces about where congregations fall short in their welcome of people who fall outside of what’s considered the normative UU experience (white, cis, moneyed, etc.) and what a radical vision of Unitarian Universalist community looks like to those of us on the margins. Join us! RSVP here.
Details
Each conversation will be 2-3 hours long and there are four different date/time options (one is for people of color only; the others are open to all):
Monday September 17, 8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific
Saturday October 6, 11am Eastern / 8am Pacific
Monday October 22, 8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific (PEOPLE OF COLOR ONLY)
Friday November 16, 3pm Eastern / noon Pacific
On each video call we’ll spend time getting to know one another, talk about our experiences of how “welcome” has failed us, discuss together what real, radical welcome would be like for us, and also talk about what we need in order to heal from our unwelcoming experiences.
Participants will join the Transforming Hearts Collective learning community and get free access to all current and future Collective webinars and courses for a year.
Facilitators
Rev. Mykal Slack has been working in congregations and other faith settings for more than a decade, helping to develop anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and LGBTQ-affirming frameworks for church life and to foster community life practices that embody radical welcome and connection. Mykal serves as the Community Minister for Worship & Spiritual Care for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) and is on the visioning team for the Clearing, an emerging POC, queer, and trans-centered spiritual community. He lives in Durham, NC.
Zr. Alex Kapitan is a trainer, speaker, consultant, editor, and anti-oppression activist and lifelong Unitarian Universalist who grounds radical social justice work in a place of faith and love. Alex worked for eight years at the national headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association, supporting anti-racism and Welcoming Congregation programming and large-scale social justice organizing efforts, and is currently on the steering committee for TRUUsT, an organization of trans UU religious professionals. Alex lives in Greenfield, MA.