UUA BGLT Network News

Action Alert from the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy

Moving Equality Forward!

Register now for this week's Standing on the Side of Love Friday Call, October 23 at 1 PM EDT!

Did you Come Out on the Side of Love on October 11th? Over 1,000 Unitarian Universalists marched on Washington D.C. and many, many more held solidarity events across the nation in support of full equality.

Thank you to everyone who marched and sang and lent your energy to that historic weekend. Marching under the Standing on the Side of Love banner, I felt transformed and held by the love that came from all over the country.

This Friday, October 23 at 1:00 PM Eastern, (12 PM Central; 11 AM Mountain; 10 AM Pacific) the Standing on the Side of Love weekly organizing call and webcast will feature inspiring photos and success stories from the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. and around the country. Join us to learn how you can transform the energy from these events into action by taking our demand for full equality to Congress.

I'm excited to be leading this call and looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Please Register Now!

Peace,

Orelia

From UUA Advocacy and Witness

Dear Friends of Justice,

Next week's alert will have a new name! Over the last few months we've been changing the format of our weekly action newsletter to make it more effective and user-friendly. With that process complete, it's time to roll out a new, more relevant name. So next week keep an eye out for the "UU Justice Action Alert," with [UU Justice] appearing first in the subject line! Please note that the UU Justice Action Alert represents a consolidation of A-News and SAC-News.

In faith and for justice,

Rowan, Kat, Rob, Orelia, Audra, Susan, and Meg

Stand for a Strong & Just Climate Bill!

The 350.org International Day of Climate Action is centered around reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. Part of accomplishing this means passing effective national legislation. The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act has been introduced in the Senate, and you have the power to shape it if you let your voice be heard. The future of the environment, economy, public healthy, and national security all depend on strong and just climate action.

As Unitarian Universalists, our faith informs us to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion for everyone, and we need to demonstrate our concern for earth and each other by advocating for strong reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, for transitioning from a fossil fuel to a clean energy economy, and for funding for international adaptation. Contact your senator to make a stand!

Success: UUs Steppin' Up For 350/International Day of Climate Action

This past Sunday was the 350 Climate Convocation at the Harvard University Memorial Church, kicking off a series of actions being done around this world for the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th. Rev. Fred Small led his song, "Three Five O" and UUA President Rev. Peter Morales led participants in a prayer. President Morales is requesting UU participation!

More than 95 UU congregations are joining in the more than 4400 events all over the world, building momentum at this crucial time before world leaders join together in early December in Copenhagen to make a global climate change agreement.

New Process Announced for Selecting General Assembly Programs

See the October 19th UU World story, "New System Announced for Choosing GA Workshops," for more information. Please note that the deadline for submissions is November 16!

Standing on the Side of Love Friday Calls

The SSL call on Friday, October 23, will bring you inspiring photos and success stories from the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. and around the country. Join us to learn how you can transform the energy from these events into action by taking our demand for full equality to Congress.

The call will be led by Orelia Busch, UUA Washington Office Legislative Assistant for Women's Issues/UUWF Clara Barton Intern and Rev. Mike Morran, Senior Minister of First Unitarian Denver.

Rev. Morran will share the experience of 1st Unitarian Society of Denver over the past four years and their annual Standing on the Side of Love worship service at the Colorado State Capitol Building.

Please RSVP for the call here: www.StandingontheSideofLove.org/fridaycalls.

To Join the Call: Dial 218-844-8230 entry code 593426#

Log onto the web-cast by opening this link: http://persony100.uua.org/?meeting=6336114.

Poverty and the Prophetic Imperative

At our most recent meeting, one of our committee members offered a summary of the many facets of poverty in Rhode Island. She did this as part of an investigation into how we might use the funds the late Margit Baum gave our church to help the poor in Newport. While many committee members were well-acquainted with what our friend presented, the overall picture she painted was still sobering. It reminded us that poverty is injustice made manifest. It reminded us that poverty destroys human freedom and dignity. Finally it reminded us, as the Rev. Richard S. Gilbert has said, that we, as UU’s, live under an imperative to confront this injustice, promote freedom and human dignity, and work for the elimination of poverty as a fundamental component of building the Beloved Community on Earth.
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The Rev. James Luther Adams in his 1946 treatise “A Faith for Free Men,” wrote that human freedom was not so much about individual rights and privileges but about communities of people working, “...in free, cooperative effort for the common good. In other words, this reality fulfills man’s life only when men stand in right relation to each other. Man, the historical being, comes most fully to terms with this reality in the exercise of freedom that works for justice in the human community. Only what creates freedom in a community of justice is dependable...Only the society that gives every man the opportunity to share in the process whereby human potentiality is realizable, only the society that creates social forms of freedom in a community of justice (where every man is given his due), only the freedom that respects the divine image and dignity in every man are dependable.” Rev. Gilbert, in his book The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice, expands Adams’ theme by articulating an obligation on the part of UU’s to promote freedom in these terms through social action, “I contend that the Unitarian Universalist movement lives under a prophetic imperative, a religious mandate for the corporate address of the church to the systemic problems of society... The imperative to be stressed is that which emerges from the disciplines of freedom. Freedom is not merely the absence of restraint, but the will and capacity to act on one’s environment. It is a freedom that implies responsibility to enrich and expand freedom in the social order. Freedom, a central value of Unitarian Universalism, is a social concept, and, if it is to be preserved, an obligation is placed on the free person. I believe we are not free to desist from struggling for freedom for self and others. Freedom, by its very nature, places an imperative claim on the free person to expand that freedom to all.”
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Over the weekend of March 27th – 28th, Channing Memorial Church and the Ballou Channing District of the Unitarian Universalist Association will co-sponsor a program and worship at Channing led by the Rev. Richard S. Gilbert, one of the leading voices in the UU movement calling for social action on our part to promote social justice. His books, The Prophetic Imperative and How Much Do We Deserve? provide a meaningful framework for the collective action for which he, Adams, and others have advocated since our church was founded. Mark your calendars and watch for more information on this important program. In the meantime, please join us at our next meeting, Wednesday, November 11th, 7PM, Channing Library.
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Tom Beall, Social Action Co-Chair

From East Bay Citizens for Peace

Friday, October 23, 2009 at 7 PM
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East Bay Citizens for Peace presents …
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Brave New Foundation's newly released documentary:
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"Rethink Afghanistan"
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St. Michael's Parish Hall
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Hope & Church Streets, Bristol, RI
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Free and open to the public
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and
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Journalist - Jonathan S. Landay
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Senior National Security Correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers
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“The Stakes in Afghanistan: The Debate We Ought to Have”
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Mr. Landay has just returned from a two-month-long investigative tour of Afghanistan. He is a veteran foreign affairs reporter with long experience in South Asia, Iraq, the Balkans and Washington.
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Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 8 PM
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The Bristol State House
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240 High St., Bristol, RI
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Open to the public - suggested donation - $5
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East Bay Citizens for Peace, a grassroots organization committed to peaceful solutions to conflict and to social and economic justice through the promotion of open, respectful dialogue. For more information contact 247-9738, eastbaycitizens4peace@hotmail.com or http://www.eastbaycitizens4peace.org/.

From UUA Advocacy and Witness

Dear Friends of Justice,

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This week marked the 8th anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. We pray for peace and justice for the Afghani people and the safe return of our troops. Meanwhile here in the U.S. capitol, we welcome participants to the National Equality March this weekend.
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In faith and for justice, Rob, Susan, Rowan, Orelia, Kat, Audra, and Meg
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Just Say NO to abstinence-only funding in the Health Care Bill!
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Sadly, the Senate Finance Committee voted (by a razor-thin margin of 12-11) to authorize $50 million in funding for abstinence-only programs as part of Health Care Reform- despite over 10 years of evidence that these programs do not work.

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We need to let Senators know that we will not stand for this! Conservative ideology has trumped science and effective health policy for far too long. We shouldn't spend even a single more taxpayer dollar on programs that spread fear, give misinformation, and stigmatize young women and BGLT people.

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President Obama has called for an end to abstinence-only funding. Democrats in the House and Senate have held firm through budget negotiations. We are SO close to finally victory!
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Please take action now to eliminate these dangerous programs!

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Update on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009

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Senators Kerry and Boxer introduced the long-anticipated bill on climate change last Wednesday. The bill includes some of the requests we'd been pushing for with our allies, including strong 2020 emissions targets than the house bill; maintaining EPA's authority to regulate emissions; and the creation of green construction jobs, especially for women and people of color in low-income communities. On the other hand, there is still much work to be done to strengthen this bill enough to make the changes necessary to manage climate change and keep the US competitive in the market for new, clean technology. Stay tuned on how to take action.

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Standing on the Side of Love Friday Calls
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Every week the Standing on the Side of Love is hosting 45 min web-cast conference calls on Friday at 1 PM EDT/EST (12PM Central; 11 AM Mountain; 10 AM Pacific) to help congregational leaders bring the campaign into their congregations and communities.
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This week will feature: Adam Gerhardstein, Campaign Manager of the Standing on the Side of Love Campaign. He will share campaign updates, including Oct. 11th GLBT Equality Mobilization, and successful congregational strategies Followed by Q & A and discussion. To register and get information for the call go to: www.StandingontheSideofLove.org/fridaycalls.

From Our Friends at the American Friends Service Committee

This morning, we were greeted to the news that President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As you probably know, the American Friends Service Committee, too, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 on behalf of Quakers worldwide for their work to help the refugees of WWI and WWII.

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Help us congratulate President Obama and urge him to be a strong advocate for world peace.

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He has many opportunities to be a peace advocate today, as his administration considers

• The course of the expanding war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq,
• How diplomacy can resolve tensions with Iran and North Korea through dialogue better than military threats,
• A federal budget that devotes too much money to weapons and war and less to families struggling to get by in this economic crisis, and
• How to go beyond a limited arms control measure to create the nuclear-free future that Obama has strongly articulated.

Today is a golden opportunity to show that a pro-peace majority supports the President’s first steps toward peace and will help him take the next steps as well.

Join AFSC in congratulating Barack Obama and share with him your vision of how we can all help wage peace.

Peace,

Laurie Creasy,

American Friends Service Committee

Rhode Island Chapter of ACLU Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The R.I. chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a variety of programs open to the public. Three of these, each including a half-hour film, are scheduled on forthcoming Wednesdays at the new facility of UUCSC (the UnitarianUniversalist Congregation of South County). The dates and topics are:

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Oct. 7, "Religious Freedom,"

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Oct. 14, "The Death Penalty"

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Oct. 28, "Freedom to Marry."

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Each program starts at 7 pm at 27 North Road, Peace Dale, R.I.