Category Archives: LGBT

Website Wednesday

May 21, 2014 by Chris · Comments Off on Website Wednesday

It’s been a long few weeks, and I got a bit behind on updates. So, there’s lots of new stuff for you this week!

  1. The newsletter has been updated, as has the upcoming events and calendar
  2. Information and a timeline for our church’s upcoming renovations are available at www.uucchc.org/facilities.html
  3. Click here to learn all about our new minister, Jenn Gray, who was unanimously called by our congregation on May 5
  4. Do you want to be in a parade? A group of Central Indiana UU Congregations are trying to expand our presence at Indy Pride. Click here to join the parade, the cheering section, or help out at the booth!

Thanks again for all your patience! See you next week!

Posted in LGBT, Minister Search Committee, Newsletter, Social Justice, Web Updates.

Welcome to Website Wednesday!

October 30, 2013 by Chris · Comments Off on Welcome to Website Wednesday!

It’s Wednesday! Gotta update the website! There’s plenty of new stuff today, too. The big news of the day is that there’s going to be a special Future Facilities Meeting tonight from 6:30-9:30pm. If you’re interested in the building expansion, please try to attend! For more information, including plans for the expansion, check out the Future Facilities page!

Also, there’s going to be an HJR-6 Town Hall Meeting on Monday, November 4 at the Avon Town Hall from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. There’s more information on the Freedom Indiana Website. Hope to see a bunch of people there!

Besides those updates, I’ve been busy getting everything else up to date. There’s a lot going on in the next couple of months, so make sure to keep an eye on your email, our Facebook Page, and Twitter!

  1. The newsletter, which was already in your email inbox, is now also online. The old one has been moved to the archive where it belongs.
  2. Of course, along with the newsletter, I’ve also updated the Upcoming Events page. 🙂
  3. As I’ve already mentioned, the Future Facilities page has been updated with the new renovation options and information.
  4. The Christmas Day Dinner Page is all ready for this year’s news and updates. Get ready!
  5. Our Upcoming Sermons page has been updated for the next few months.

As always, if you have any bugs to report, questions to ask, or information to add to or about the website, email me at uuccweb@uucchc.org. See you all next week!

Chris

Posted in LGBT, Newsletter, Web Updates.

Help Stop HJR-6

September 9, 2013 by Chris · Comments Off on Help Stop HJR-6

On September 8th, I had the opportunity to attend a planning meeting with Freedom Indiana at Life Journey Church in Indianapolis. The meeting was packed! At least 100 people were there, from Indy, Bloomington, and even further away. The energy in the room was awesome.

Freedom Indiana is a bipartisan group, run by Rick Sutton from IE Action. The board also includes delegates from Cummins Inc. and Eli Lily. Other partners include HRC, Freedom to Marry, American Unity Fund, the Gill Action Fund and the ACLU of Indiana. They are currently working here in Indiana to prevent HJR-6 from making it to the ballot in November.

So, what is HJR-6? HJR-6 is a two sentence bill that has been put forth in the Indiana General Assembly to amend the State Constitution to ban gay marriage. It has to pass the General Assembly twice, and then it would go on the ballot as a referendum. It’s already passed once, and they’re going to try again during the next session, which runs from Jan. 4 through March 15.

The problem is, not only does HJR-6 repeat our current state law against marriage equality and enshrine it in the Constitution, but it also states that “A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.” Unfortunately, no one knows how broadly that second sentence would be enforced. Obviously, it means that there couldn’t be Civil Unions or Domestic Partnerships in our state, but does it extend as far as same-sex partner benefits for state employees? No one is sure.

Either way, this is the tenth year that Indiana has fought against this type of amendment, and we want to stop it in it’s tracks once and for all. In order to stop it in the General Assembly, it either needs to be voted down or the clock has to run out for the session. If it does pass the General Assembly, it’ll be on the ballot for the mid-term elections in November 2014, which would give us only 8 months to educate people in the whole state about why HJR-6 is not cool.

The good news is that some legislators have already decided to change their vote this session because they’ve learned how damaging this amendment would be. Others, including our newly elected local State Senator, Peter Miller, can possibly be swayed. If enough people call and write their legislators, then they’ll realize how seriously people are taking this possible infringement on basic LGBT rights.

So, by now, hopefully you’re wondering how you can help…

  1. Most importantly, you can go to http://openstates.org/in, find your district, and call your representatives! If you’re not sure what to say, simply give the person your name, where you’re from, and tell them something like “I’m calling to ask {my representative} to vote no on HJR-6 during the next session. It’s not only redundant, but it’s discriminatory and wrong. We don’t need discrimination in our State Constitution.”
  2. If you’re like me and don’t like phones very much, you can write them a letter! UUCC will be hosting letter writing parties after service, or you can contact me at any time for help writing and sending a letter to your legislator. If we can bury them in letters, they won’t be able to ignore us!
  3. After you’ve written to your representatives, write a Letter to the Editor! The more people we can inform about HJR-6, the more letters and phone calls our reps. will get.
  4. While we’re at it, talk to your friends, your neighbors, your family…anyone you know who you think can contact their representatives. If you need help talking to people about HJR-6, FairTalk has a resource page with both HJR-6 talking points and tips for talking to people about contentious issues like marriage equality.
  5. Finally, if you have the time, contact Freedom Indiana to volunteer. They’ll be hosting phone banks in Indianapolis to contact voters about HJR-6 and can always use more help!

I’ll see you all Sunday at church! I’ll have my letter writing stuff with me if anyone wants to get started. Thank you for Standing on the Side of Love and working with us to Stop HJR-6!

Chris

email us: socialjustice@uucchc.org

 

Posted in LGBT, Social Justice.