2023 General Assembly - LGBTQ and Multicultural Events

The UUA rainbow chalice logo and the GA logo that is GA is large yellow letters with people with different bodies and abilities holding hands. An image that reads UUA General Assembly Pittsburgh June 21-25, 2023 LGBTQIA+ Programming and Events at Multiplatform General Assembly. Scan QR code or visit www.uua.org/lgbtq/generalassembly. Follow @UUA_lgbtq on Twitter and Instagram. The image has a rainbow border.

LGBTQIA+ and Multicultural Events @ 2023 General Assembly - Pittsburgh

The LGBTQIA+ and Multicultural Gathering Space is Room 329 in the Convention Center. Most events can be attended via Zoom as well. Please use the hyperlinks to register for the Zoom for each event. 

Wednesday, June 21

  • LGBTQIA+ Meet & Greet (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 1pm-3pm ET (12pm CT/11am MT/10am PT)
    • Please join us for a time of fellowship and celebration. There will be music! There will be trivia! There will be fun! Bring a song, a poem, a story ... and YOUR BEAUTIFUL SELF!!!!
    • All LGBTQIA+ people and allies are welcome to join us for this event.

  • Ace/Aro Spectrum Welcome Space (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 3:30pm-5pm (2:30pm CT/1:30pm MT/12:30pm PT)
    • This is an affinity space for absolutely everyone who's on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum (or questioning). It's an opportunity connect with other aspec UUs and talk about our experiences.

  • Still Coviding Connection Space (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 5:30pm-7pm (4:30pm CT/3:30pm MT/2:30pm PT)
    • Do you continue to take significant COVID precautions in your daily life? This might look like masking in all public places and/or with friends and family indoors or outdoors; like testing for COVID regularly; like limiting social activities based on COVID risk; and more... and like some of the online groups, this space is a "Still COVIDing" group for people to talk about experiences and connect with UUs who are navigating similar things.
    • No specific identity or experience with COVID or disability is required. There also isn't a specific "level" of COVID precaution required to come to this space. We ask that folks center those who are at highest risk and taking the most significant precautions.

Thursday, June 22

  • Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Conversation with Brian Broome and Rev. Michael J. Crumpler
    (Convention Center Ballroom A & Virtual for registered GA attendees)

    • 10am-11:30am (9am CT/8am MT/7am PT)

    • Brian Broome, poet and screenwriter, is the author of Punch Me Up to the Gods (Mariner Books, 2021), which won the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, Publisher Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Nonfiction, and the 2022 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Memoir/Biography. The memoir introduces Broome whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys and propels forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut.

  • Welcoming Congregations - Five Practices of Welcome Renewal Orientation (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 1pm-2pm ET (12pm CT/11am MT/10am PT)
    • In 2019 we launched a new Welcoming Congregations renewal program called The Five Practices of Welcome Renewal. The goal of the program is to encourage congregations to practice Welcome every year, year-round.

  • UPLIFT Trans Families Social (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 5:30pm-7:30pm ET (4:30pm CT/3:30pm MT/2:30pm PT)
    • What's a "trans family?" It's any family which has one or more trans/nonbinary+ family members. This social is a space for trans families to connect with each other and talk about ways they can support each other.

  • Queer Youth Game Night (In-Person Only)

    • 9pm-11pm ET (8pm CT/7pm MT/6pm PT)

Friday, June 23

  • Stories of Intersex and Faith Film Showing and Discussion (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 12:00pm-2pm ET (11:30am CT/10:30am MT/9:30am PT)
    • Presenters: Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez and Megan Defranza
    • Watch the film's trailer (Vimeo)!
    • Description of film: Caught in the crossfire at the intersection of medicine, politics, and religion, perfectly healthy intersex children are being surgically altered to look more like typical girls and boys. Surgeries and hormone replacements are begun before children can consent, causing physical and psychological harm. These procedures have been identified as Human Rights Violations by the United Nations, but continue in the United States every day. Uncovering the truth about their bodies, five intersex people break the silence about their physical differences. Coming from Christian and Jewish families, they show how religion can and has been a tool to support secrecy and surgeries, but how their own faith has also helped them find healing, courage, and hope.

    • Come watch the film and then discuss with renowned advocates Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez and Megan Defranza. All are welcome!

  • GA Trans/Nonbinary+ Open House (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 7:00pm-8:30pm ET (4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT)
    • Come get to know each other, talk about the UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary Monthly Gatherings, and connect in an all-ages space that welcomes trans/nonbinary UUs (religious professionals, ministers, and lay people all are invited).
    • This multiplatform event is for UUs or UU-adjacent humans who are trans, nonbinary, metagender, agender, genderqueer, genderfluid, multigender, questioning, and otherwise not (entirely or at all) cis. Children and youth, please follow the permission/safety guidelines.

  • QUEER BIPOC Kiki Night Out (In-Person Only)
    ***Black, Indigenous, People of Color Only

    • A night out with Queer BIPOC Folx for dancing and fun!
    • Meet in the lobby of The Westin Pittsburgh by Marriott - 1000 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15222
    • Join GroupMe to RSVP via WhatsApp at QUEER BIPOC @ General Assembly or text Michael Crumpler @ 919-932-0830

Saturday, June 24

  • UPLIFT Access Open House (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 1pm-2:30pm ET (12pm CT/11am MT/10am PT)
    • Join us to meet the UUA’s new Accessibility Resources Coordinator, Gretchen Maune … and learn about accessibility and inclusion at the UUA and the resources that will be coming available in the coming months.

  • Mosaic Open House (In-Person & Virtual)

    • 4:30pm-6pm (3:30pm CT/2:30pm MT/1:30pm PT)

Additional GA Programming Focused on LGBTQIA+ People

The queer community shares the capacity to listen to our bodies, callings, and the stirrings of true self. How can we live into this spiritual gift? We continue the holy work of coming out, finding within and beyond our unique identities a shared, original identity—stardust, infused with the Spirit’s breath.

  • Whova App Communities (for GA registrants)
  • LGBTQIA+ Gathering Space
  • Transgender /Nonbinary Attendees