Jude Sylvan

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Jude is a 2nd-year Mdiv candidate at Harvard Divinity School, and is currently a UUA Aspirant. Before pursuing their call to ministry, Jude found fulfillment and success as a writer, producer, performing artist, and teacher. Jude is the author of Kissing Oscar Wilde (2013 Write Bloody Publishing) and the play Spider Cult: the Musical (produced at the American Repertory Theater in 2016). They've had poems, stories, and essays published in places such as The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, The Toast, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, plus many more. Jude has additionally produced and performed in numerous live stage shows and events at The American Repertory Theater's Oberon stage in Cambridge over the past seven years.

Jude graduated with a BA in Religious Studies and East Asian Studies from Indiana University Bloomington in 2006. Since then, they have worked as poetry and creative writing educator to many children, teens, and adults. In 2011 Jude helped co-found Mass Leap, a youth spoken-word nonprofit that is still going strong. In 2012 Jude also became a certified yoga instructor, and continues to teach weekly and monthly yoga classes at Samara Yoga in Somerville. Jude also served as a manager at Samara Yoga for seven years, and is the creator and teacher of "First Friday Queer Yoga," a queer-focused monthly yoga class that is entering its fourth year.

Jude was the LGBTQ and Gender Justice Field Education Intern for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Ministries in Unitarian Universalist Association Organizing Strategy Team, September 2018 - June 2020.

From Jude Sylvan

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A Ceremony for Proclaiming and Affirming Name and Pronouns By Shige Sakurai (they/them). This beautiful ceremony is for trans and nonbinary folks, and could also be used by anyone who is changing their name.

By Shige Sakurai (they/them), Jude Sylvan | June 29, 2020 | From Uplift

Isolation can be a playground for depression and other mental health conditions, and the LGBTQ community is already at higher risk.

By Jude Sylvan | April 21, 2020 | From Uplift

To expect resilience from profound loss before or without grief is cruel.

By Jude Sylvan | March 31, 2020 | From Uplift

For the greater San Francisco Bay Area, this is Day 4 of the Shelter in Place order. For my partner and I, this is Day 10, as we got a bit of a head start.

By Jude Sylvan | March 23, 2020 | From Uplift

Like so many others, for me this past week felt in different turns like a nightmare, a cruel practical joke, and a bad movie. At the beginning of last week, I was gearing up for the first staged readings of my thesis project for Harvard Divinity School -- a full-length,...

By Jude Sylvan | March 18, 2020 | From Uplift

Over the next two months, I would like to schedule several one-on-one conversations with UUs from across the United States, Canada, and beyond. If you would be interested in scheduling a time to talk with me, please email me at jsylvan@uua.org.

By Jude Sylvan | February 10, 2020 | From Uplift

Last week, I visited the Leslie-Lohman Museum in New York City to view On Our Backs: The Revolutionary Art of Queer Sex Work. This exhibit lifts up the deep interconnectedness between queer sex work, queer sex workers, and activism. If you are able, I highly recommend seeing it before it...

By Jude Sylvan | December 16, 2019 | From Uplift

Over the next several months, I will be reaching out to Unitarian Universalists of many identities to discuss their experiences, impressions, and dreams of gender justice within Unitarian Universalism. Together I believe we can uncover a more inclusive gender justice. ...

By Jude Sylvan | October 28, 2019 | From Uplift

This date marks the anniversary of a public demonstration by intersex people and their allies at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996, at which they condemned nonconsensual surgeries on intersex people.

Blessing | By Jude Sylvan | October 22, 2019 | From Uplift
Tagged as: Body, Welcome & Inclusion for LGBTQ

We celebrate those who come out! At the same time, we recognize that "coming out" is not everyone's journey. You do not need to do anything to "become" LGBTQ+. You do not need to "come out" to be yourself. You are sacred, whole, and beautiful just as you are, right now.

By Jude Sylvan | October 8, 2019 | From Uplift

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