Is Westside "The Gay Church?"

By Ellen G.

Over the years I have often heard that the Farragut community considers WUUC to be "The Gay Church." Those of us who attend services regularly may find this puzzling. Yes, we are a Welcoming Congregation, both officially and, I hope, in practice. We support lgbtq+ causes, participate in Pridefest, and support Knox Pride as a quarterly Justice and Generosity Partner. However, while we have a growing number of lgbtq+ congregants, typically we're a bunch of straight people.

I'm old enough to remember when the word "gay" was still sometimes used to mean carefree, joyful, or brightly colored. "Toujours gai!" is the motto of Mehetabel the Cat in the delightful verses of Don Marquis. The primary street through downtown Knoxville is Gay St., so named in the 1880s most likely after Gay St. in Baltimore. By the mid-twentieth century "gay" was increasingly used to refer to homosexual men, and today it applies to people in general who are attracted to individuals of the same gender. Sadly, sometime in the 1990s it became common to hear the word used as a perjorative. But what does it mean to be "The Gay Church?"

For Unitarian Universalist churches to be recognized by the UUA as a Welcoming Congregation is an intentional and continuous process. WUUC first began the work to gain recognition in 2006, after which we worked for over a year and a half to educate ourselves as to what it truly means to be Welcoming. A group of us attended a 12-week workshop, learning just how much we did not know. We read books, watched "gay" movies, held numerous discussion groups. On May 4, 2008, the Westside congregation officially voted to apply to become a Welcoming Congregation. Then followed more months of completing qualifications and paperwork. Sunday, February 22, 2009, was a proud day as we announced that we were finally recognized by our denomination as a Welcoming Congregation.

Since 2009 we have realized that the work of being a Welcoming Congregation is never ending. Each year we are required to send a report to the UUA showing that we are still learning and growing in our understanding of lgbtq+ issues. More importantly, we are constantly realizing how essential it is that we expand our awareness and understanding.

We have worked to support same sex marriage, we have carried Westside's banner in Pride Parades, we have staffed a booth at a Youth Pridefest, for several years we hosted a social time once a month for lgbtq+ teens, we've read more books and had more discussions. But we still haven't arrived.

Just a few years ago we started talking about pronouns, a touchy subject for those grammarians among us! We discovered that we had strong and conflicting feelings about those personal pronouns. So we had more discussions, we worked on Compassionate Communication, we read more books. And some of us began to use our pronouns on nametags and when speaking in a service. We still don't all agree about pronouns—we are an independently-minded and strong-willed bunch after all. And the conversations are ongoing.

In recent times, through the volatile mix of politics and social media, transgender issues are more prominent in the news. We are learning that gender is much more complex than many of us ever realized. Rev. Carol proposed the book The ABC's of LGBTQ+ as a congregational read, resulting in some deep and informative discussions. The more we learn, the more we find that we do not know or understand. We took an important step at Westside when we changed the signage on our restrooms to make them welcoming to all.

We are becoming more aware that transgender persons are commonly subjected to ridicule, loss of basic rights, and verbal and physical violence, including murder. According to the Human Rights Campaign, between January 1 and May 23 of this year 11 transgender persons have been reported murdered. Worldwide that number is 86. Openly welcoming and supporting the transgender community can be lifesaving work.

June is Pride Month, and this is the quarter when we support and celebrate Knox Pride as our Justice and Generosity Partner. Just as our "Welcoming Congregation" work continues to evolve, so has Knox Pride. Founded in 2006 as the East Tennessee Equality Council, primarily to sponsor Knoxville's annual PrideFest, it has grown into a primary resource for the Knoxville LGBTQIA + community and beyond. Since opening The Knox Pride Center in October 2021, they have provided space for people to learn more about the queer community, participate in a variety of gender-affirming care and life skill support, utilize their food pantry, or shop at their Thriftique. They still sponsor the Pride Parade and Festival, this year to be held in October.

All the important and necessary work that they do makes Knox Pride an excellent organization for us to partner with. Currently we are specifically supporting their food pantry. You can learn more about their pantry at https://www.knoxpride.com/pantry. You can bring food contributions to Westside or donate money at church or through our website. At present they have a critical need for bottled water and electrolyte powder in individual packets.

I'm sure that many in the wider community who call Westside the "gay" church do so to insult us. I'm still not sure what it really means, and I know it is a narrow view of our joyful, concerned, curious, open, questioning congregation that strives to care for each other and to work for justice for society and for our earth. But as we continue to affirm and celebrate many aspects of diversity, maybe we just need to claim the label as positive, as one part of our identity. Toujours gai!