Adult and Youth Education Opportunity

Trans Inclusion in Congregations, a six-session course

This course was developed for UU congregations, but is relevant to all faith traditions.  It is intended for everyone from those new to trans identity to those with years of life experience who want to learn and create a fully-inclusive and affirming congregation.

Each session will consist of a 45- to 60-minute pre-recorded lecture by Rev. Mykal Slack and Zr. Alex Kapitan, moments for reflection and deep conversation facilitated by members of the Trans Initiative Team.

Sessions will run the following Sundays after service from noon-2pm in the UUFM Meeting Room. Childcare will be provided.

• 9/15 – Session 1.(Transforming Hearts Collective Session 1) Introduction to Beloved Community: Welcome as a Spiritual Practice: “Being welcoming isn’t something we are, it’s something we do—welcome is a spiritual practice. In order to be fully affirming of the full spectrum of gender identities and experiences, we need to think differently about what the purpose of our spiritual communities is and what it means to truly practice welcome. In this session we will: Get grounded in a “Beloved Community” approach to welcome. Reflect on your personal experiences of welcome versus unwelcome and inclusion versus exclusion. Envision what practicing Beloved Community in a congregational setting looks like.”
• 9/29 – Session 2. (Transforming Hearts Collective Session 2) Gender and Our Faith Community: “Gender roles and expectations show up in all kinds of subtle ways in society and in congregational life. In this session we will dig into what we’ve been taught about gender and explore the role of gender in our lives and in our congregations. In this session we will: Review the origins and impacts of gender binary roles and how they connect to and uphold patriarchy. Explore gender roles and patriarchy within organized religion (with an emphasis on Unitarian Universalism)—historically and also how they play out today in your congregation and at large. Reflect on the faith grounding for how we are called, as people of faith, to dismantle gender-based oppression.”
• 10/13 – Session 3. (Transforming Hearts Collective Session 3_and_materials) Unpacking the Gender Binary: This session presents an alternative “model for understanding gender expansively, providing the basis for unlearning our assumptions and approaching gendered differences with curiosity and openness. In this session we will: Learn to separate different dimensions of gender from one another—biology, expression, identity, performance. Explore the incredible diversity and variation of experience within the different dimensions of gender. Reflect on how your own experience of gender aligns or does not align with the gender binary.”
• 10/27 – Session 4. (Transforming Hearts Collective Session 4_and_materials) Trans Experience and Spirituality: With “a better understanding of the many different experiences of gender, we’ll dig into the lived experiences of trans people in the world and in congregations, and also learn about the spiritual gifts of trans people—what gets missed out on when trans experience and spirituality get squelched. In this session we will: Learn the risk factors involved in being transgender, and the ways that race, class, age, ability, and other elements of identity impact trans experience. Learn about the experiences of trans people in Unitarian Universalism. Explore the many varied spiritual gifts of trans people.”
• 11/3 – Session 5. (Transforming Hearts Collective Session 5_and_materials) The Role of Culture in Trans Exclusion: “Being inclusive of trans people isn’t just about bathrooms and language—it’s about the cultural values that live under the surface and dictate our expectations around ‘the way things are.’ This session explores how mainstream culture shows up in our congregations and works to exclude trans people. In this session we will: Gain an understanding of the iceberg model of culture. Explore the characteristics of mainstream or dominant culture. Discuss how trans culture differs from mainstream culture.”
• 11/10 – Session 6. (Transforming Hearts Collective Session 6_and_materials) Creating Culture Shift: “Full inclusion and affirmation of trans people requires real culture shift.  This final session covers how to create culture shift in a congregation or other faith context so that people of all gender identities and experiences can be full members, get their spiritual needs met, and contribute their gifts.  In this session we will: Explore how to set the ‘goal posts’ for our congregation’s understanding of welcome on radical welcome; Learn why anything less than radical welcome does not work for the majority of trans people; and Gain tools and practices for congregational culture shift.”If you are unable to attend all of the sessions, they will be available online to view on your own.  Members and Friends of the UUFM will receive instructions on how to do that in a separate e-mail.

 

If you are unable to attend all of the sessions, they will be available online to view on your own.  Watch here for further information on how to access the course.