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Inspired by Massachusetts Marriage Victory, Youth, and Social Justice

June 19, 2007

Last Thursday, June 14, 2007, was an inspiring day to be a Unitarian Universalist and a wonderful day to work for our faith. I joined dozens of UUA staff, local Unitarian Universalists, and visiting UU youth from around the country in calling for, and later celebrating, the protection of marriage equality in Massachusetts.

The work of the UUA is almost always nationally- and congregationally-focused. We try not to dedicate too much time to the headquarters' home state. But most of the UUA staff live in Massachusetts, and our lives are affected, often directly, by the events occurring on our doorstep. As people of faith and conscience, we cannot stay too far removed.

When I say "on our doorstep," I mean it literally. The UUA's main building at 25 Beacon Street is located directly next to the Massachusetts State House, where the debates and decisions about marriage equality have occurred. The view from my and many other UUA office windows is of the State House, the Boston Common, and what has become known as the "protest grounds."

I have sat at this desk for three years, hearing the songs of support and the chants of hatred from the crowds not 50 feet away. The days when "We Shall Overcome" prevailed lifted my spirit and energized my work for our faith. The days when "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" were loudest were hard to endure. On days when the marriage opponents were rallying, my wife and I were often harassed when walking across the park and up to the UUA offices, where she also worked until last summer. Walking in the door of 25 Beacon Street was like entering a safe haven. The support of the Unitarian Universalist community, and especially of the UUA staff, has been palpable and invaluable to us.

I am glad to be able to offer a taste of that same support to Unitarian Universalists from around the country. Every spring, around 800 UU youth visit Boston, and I give most of them tours of the UUA while they are in town. These "heritage trips" give the visiting youth a feeling of connection to our larger faith community, an appreciation for our inspiring history, a deeper sense of Unitarian Universalism's role in today's society, an understanding of the support and resources available to them, and encouragement to move forward with our faith.

Visiting youth from Boise, Idaho; Sacramento, California; and Southlake, Texas, were in town Thursday, and were caught up in the celebrations. The group from Boise stood with the rally supporting same-sex marriage for most of the morning before coming for their tour of the UUA. They had been awoken by the cheers from the State House and learned of the rally and vote by reading the morning's newspaper.

"They immediately went and got stickers and found signs to hold so they could show their support," explained the Rev. Elizabeth Greene, minister of the Boise UU Fellowship and UUA Board member. "Some of the kids were deeply saddened that people were against such a basic right, but we were all really quite honored to be in the middle of so many people working on this side of the issue."

Youth from the Pathways UU congregation in Southlake, Texas, were similarly inspired. "It was really amazing seeing people caring and out there on our side," explained youth group member Ali. "I'd never seen protests that I'd wanted to join before."

"The energy from the crowds was tangible. It was like a religious experience," agreed Izzy. "Being bisexual, I always feel a bit out of place at home in Texas. It was great to see so many people just like me‹UUs and gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. It was really cool. . . My friends at home are going to be so excited when I tell them."

Jennifer Thrall-Thomas, Director of Religious Education in Boise, continued, "Coming to Boston for a Boise person is really quite the experience. Seeing so many UUs here, knowing what our forefathers have done here, how long our faith has been supporting rights here‹it's inspiring."

This wasn't the first foray into social justice work for the Boise youth. Earlier this year, they learned about funding social justice through an innovative philanthropic project. [link to UU World story]. "From the Pay it Forward project, they had already learned about thinking about others, thinking about people's needs," said Thrall-Thomas. "They are a very generous bunch, very justice-oriented. But supporting marriage equality is different than raising money‹it is about systemic change, about rights rather than resources. It's important to learn about both of these kinds of social justice, and I'm glad they had an opportunity to do so."

Both Greene and Thrall-Thomas spoke of how their Unitarian Universalist faith motivated and grounded their social justice work, and of how their social justice work inspired their faith. "It doesn't seem like it's different from religion, or that it's a choice," said Thrall-Thomas. “I know in my heart that doing this work, standing up for civil rights, is spiritual work. And the same goes for working with young people. Opening the eyes of the youth to the world around them, to the needs of people, to the changes they can make and the effect they can have on the world‹ that's spiritual work too."

Meeting with youth from around the country has been one of the best parts of my work for the UUA. Whenever I feel too tired or burned-out to join a rally, or hesitate to speak up about my faith, I think of the energy and commitment any of our youth would have. It is inspiring knowing that such an energetic, dedicated, and spiritually-grounded group of people will be shaping our Unitarian Universalist future and are already bringing our faith to new levels of engagement. I hope other Unitarian Universalists have the opportunity to learn from our youth about how to live their faith courageously.

UUA staff members have also learned how to live their faith more broadly as they have worked to protect their own and their neighbors' right to marry. I, and many other UUA staff, have poured the energy and experience we have gained from our social justice work here in Massachusetts into our work for Unitarian Universalism across the country. We will all be taking the enthusiasm from this Massachusetts civil rights victory with us to share with thousands of Unitarian Universalists at this week's General Assembly, and in our work beyond.

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Last updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

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