Committee Purpose:

Officers:

Members:

Meeting Schedule:

e-Mail Contact:

Recent Minutes:

Attendees: Maureen Adams, Sabrina Babcock, Lee McLaughlin, Nancy Sullivan, Anne Verret-Speck.

Announcements

• Welcoming Sunday is April 23rd; we will be in charge of the church service. Our guest speaker is Donna George.
• Our next monthly meeting is March 14th.
• The next movie is March 10th; Priscilla Queen of the Dessert. Get the word out.
• We are planning a GSA event night at our church in May with Andrea Egmont, supervisor or Youth Services.

Summary of tasks Film Series

Follow-up action	Assigned to
Contact John Mercer for movie equipment- set up	Maureen
Get snacks	Sabrina
Introduce Movie	Betty

Attendees: Maureen Adams, Harold Babcock, Sabrina Babcock, Dottie DiChiara, Jack Dyer, Lee McLaughlin, Kristine Murphy, Betty Pike, Nancy Sullivan

Announcements

• The dates for our Gay and Lesbian Film series are January 13, February 10, and March 10. The theme will be the "Gay Days of Winter."
• Our next meeting is November 8th at 7:00 p.m. in the lower meeting house.

• Film Series: Nancy will contact Brent regarding the equipment. Kristine will contact news papers for advertising.
• Donations for our Church library: Dottie has contacted Julie Amery and will get a wish list of books for us to make a donation.
• Guest Speaker: Dotty will contact BAGLEE. Anne will contact Donna George. Possible dates for the speaker are March 26th and April 23rd.

Attendees: Maureen Adams, Harold Babcock, Dottie DiChiara, Lee McLaughlin, Betty Pike, Nancy Sullivan

Opening: Nancy read a moving prayer/blessing for the opening. Announcements

• Nancy's 2 year term as co-chair is winding down. Maureen and I will be co-chairs with Dotty for the next term. Thank you Nancy for doing such a great job. It was fun getting to know you and we wish you luck in your new endeavors.
• Our next meeting is scheduled on July 12th at 7:00pm in the lower meeting house.
• The kick off for our summer film series begins the week of Yankee Homecoming.
• The dates are: August 3, 10, 17, and 24 at 7:30 PM.

Summer Film Series
Maureen checked on the availability of the films from the list of movies Dottie got from the MFA. We voted and the results are:

• August 3rd -- Do I Love You
• August 10th -- Keep Not Silent and Dangerous Living (double feature)
• August 17th -- My Summer of Love
• August 24th -- Beautiful Boxer (if released)

Summary of tasks

Follow-up action	Assigned to	Updates
Update Movie flier or ask Liss.	Lee
Have poster made	Maureen
Check availability of movies and rating	Maureen	done
Check availability of Church with John or Vicki.	Nancy	done
For advertising contact by July 12th:
Yankee Homecoming	Maureen
Daily News	Lee
Bay Windows	Dottie
Merrimac News	Nancy
In charge of refreshments for all of the movies	Sabrina
Check with Brent Mitchell regarding equipment.	Nancy	done
Introduce movie
August 3rd	Betty
August 10th	Dotty
August 17th	Nancy
August 24th	Sabrina
In charge of refreshments
August 3rd	Nancy
August 10th	Lee
August 17th	Dotty
August 24th
Circulate fliers: around town, churches, Union Congregational (Lucy Blood), E-mail people from past film series	Everyone
Advertise our church in the Gay Pride guide	Maureen

Attendees: Maureen Adams, Harold Babcock, Lee McLaughlin, Betty Pike, and Nancy Sullivan

Opening: Thank you Betty for sharing a very poignant and beautiful poem by Denise Levertov that got our meeting off to a great start.

Announcements

• Welcoming Sunday is April 10th, we will be in charge of the church service, dedicate the banner, and Garry, one of the couples from the Supreme Court same sex marriage ruling will be our guest speaker.
• We rescheduled our April meeting to March 28th at 7:30 in the lower meeting house to rehearse for the welcoming Sunday service. This meeting is important so please try to make it. We want to make sure we have someone assigned to each task during the service.
• Don't forget we're hosting coffee hour at this Sunday's service March 13th.
• Our last film for our Winter series is March 18th next Friday night at 7:00 "A Touch of Pink"

• Send thank you note to Carol Bisgrove for the incredible job on our banner.
• Write-up about our guest speaker on the welcoming table, also bring write-up to our next film night.

Co-Chairs: Todd Herrmann & Nancy Sullivan
Also Present: Maureen Adams, Dorothy Fairweather, Lee McLaughlin, Joan Smart, Linda Tulley, Harold Babcock

The Welcoming Congregation Committee conducted an organizational meeting to determine the direction of the committee for the new church year. We began with an icebreaker -- playing "Who am I?" over a light luncheon. Attendees were given a nametag on their back and had to figure out their new gay/lesbian/bisexual identity. So, in our midst were Gene Robinson, Rosie O'Donnell, Leonardo da Vinci, Drew Barrymore, Alexander the Great, Lily Tomlin, and Tchaikovsky.

The formal part of our meeting began with a brief summary by Nancy Sullivan of the history and purpose of the Welcoming Congregation Committee. The process towards becoming a Welcoming Congregation began in 1991 to educate the church and community-at-large to the issues confronting gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in our society. Various programming during the '90's included a gay film series, discussions with legislators, workshops on preventing violence against GLB youth, hosting "Loves Makes a Family" photo exhibit, launching a gay men's spirituality group, game nights, guest preachers, and more. The First Religious Society voted to become a Welcoming Congregation during 1994-95. While the committee has remained in force, it has been fairly dormant for the past two years. The purpose of today's meeting is to reactivate the committee and chart a direction with some specific initiatives.

Linda Tulley (who is already oversubscribed on committees) agreed to come to our kick-off meeting because she attended the UUA's General Assembly in June and went to several sessions related to Welcoming Congregations across the denomination and the current work of the UUA's Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns. Linda reported that subsequent to our becoming a Welcoming Congregation in the mid-90's, there has been more emphasis placed on issues of bisexuality and the transgendered community. We circulated the new resource manual "The Welcoming Congregation Handbook, second edition." Linda mentioned that she learned a lot about equal marriage at GA. She had not realized the large number of benefits extended through civil marriage that are not afforded to gay couples, even those who have had a civil union in Vermont. She urged us to continue to get the word out about this issue and to keep the church membership informed and the GLBT community connected. Linda volunteered to stay involved as a liaison to the Membership Committee.

With that backdrop, Todd Herrmann facilitated a planning discussion for future Welcoming Congregation projects. We brainstormed possibilities and then did "values voting" using multicolored stickers to rank priorities and our own personal interests. The objective was to determine what we collectively felt was both important and something to which we were willing to personally commit our time and energy. That resulted in the following prioritization [with principal volunteers listed lin brackets]:

Immediate Focus - High Priority

• Attend/testify at Marriage hearings and other political rallies [Todd & Lee] - possible follow-up in conjunction with Social Action Committee? [Nancy]
• Update membership packets and visitor tables with Welcoming Congregation materials [Nancy & Linda]
• Organize pot luck dinner(s) for outreach [Lee & Joan]

• Establish alliance with areawide Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays [Linda]

• Increase visible presence of the Welcoming Congregation, e.g. a banner in the renovated space, with the GLBT byline [Todd]
• Organize a film series (with potential alliances with other area churches as well as with the Firehouse Theater or Screening Room to reach out to those who might not come through church doors) [Maureen & Nancy]
• Organize guest speakers, worship service, and/or other special events in anticipation of 10th anniversary of Welcoming Congregation (2004-05), e.g. Dr. Peter Gomes of Harvard, Jenny Boylan of Colby College, update from E.J. Graff, etc. [Todd, Maureen, & Joan]
• With RE Committee, review new curriculum and materials to ensure diversity and sensitivity to GLBT issues [Todd]

• Adult Education series
• Community lecture series/awareness raising sessions/telling our personal stories
• GLBT service project with Human Services Committee
• Games Night
• Participation in regional Gay Pride events
• Interweave weekend retreat in New York

• Todd & Nancy to organize thoughts from the brainstorming (see above)
• Committee agreed to meet quarterly with next meeting as a pot luck supper
• Todd agreed to keep committee apprised of key dates relating to Equal Marriage proposals

Last Report:

2001 - 2002 Annual Report

2000 - 2001 Annual Report
1998 - 1999 Annual Report