Article Contributed by
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown
June is LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) Pride Month.
Pride Month is celebrated to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan that was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
The weekend-long 2023 Jamestown Pride Festival is June 9 – 11. For information, visit MHAChautauqua.org/JamestownPride.
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) will recognize Pride Month at its 10:30 a.m. hybrid service on Sunday, June 4 when Verdis LeVar Robinson preaches on “Born This Way.”
As anti-queer bills, laws, and policies are on the rise across the country, this affirming service will reach into Unitarian Universalist ancestry to seek guidance, hope, and inspiration.
The message relates to the first and seventh of the seven Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm, promote and hold as strong values and moral guides: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Robinson speaks from Vermont, where he serves as the ministerial coordinator of worship arts production and adult religious education at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier. He was the National Director for The Democracy Commitment, the Director for Community College Engagement at Campus Compact, and is currently an Associate of the Kettering Foundation specializing in deliberative democracy in community colleges and interfaith institutions.
Prior to leading community college civic engagement nationally, Robinson was a tenured Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, for ten years.
With a B.M. in Voice Performance from Boston University, a B.S. cum laude and M.A. in History from SUNY College at Brockport, and an M.A. in African-American Studies from SUNY University at Buffalo, Robinson received his Master of Divinity from Chicago’s Meadville Lombard Theological School this May.
Emily Garrick is the service leader, and Julie Anderson the pianist.
A social time follows the service.
All are welcome. Participation can be in person at 1255 Prendergast Avenue in Jamestown or online. To join virtually, use the link at UUJamestown.org/calendar.
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.
Learn more about the UUCJ at UUJamestown.org or on their Facebook page facebook.com/JamestownUU.
