A Welcoming and Affirming Community at UUFH
At the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville, we are intentional and public about our commitment to welcoming and affirming people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and gender-diverse.
As a Welcoming Congregation, we strive to ensure that LGBTQ+ people are embraced as their full, authentic selves in every part of congregational life: worship, leadership, religious education, pastoral care, and community events.
Our welcome is active, not symbolic!
We work to create spaces where all identities are respected and celebrated through inclusive language, thoughtful programming that reflects LGBTQ+ lives and experiences, and justice-centered action beyond our walls.
This commitment is an ongoing spiritual practice, grounded in our Unitarian Universalist principles and our shared belief that love, lived openly and courageously, has the power to transform both individuals and communities.
Our Commitment to LGBTQ+ Welcome at UUFH
As an LGBTQ+ Welcoming Congregation recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association, we affirm our commitment to the following actions:
- Honor the lives of all people and equally affirm displays of caring and affection without regard for sexual orientation.
- Celebrate diversity by using inclusive language and content in worship.
- Incorporate an understanding of the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons throughout all of our programs, including religious education.
- Affirm and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues and history.
- Conduct same-sex weddings and affirm loving, consensual relationships.
- Advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, promoting justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society.
We speak out when the rights and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are at stake.
Clear and Intentional Welcome
Under the leadership of Rev. George Grimm Howell, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville lives out its commitment to being a Welcoming Congregation through intentional practices of inclusion. LGBTQ+ people are affirmed and embraced as their whole selves in every aspect of congregational life—worship, leadership, religious education, pastoral care, and community gatherings—because belonging is not partial, it is complete.
Celebrating Diversity and Identity
At UUFH, we understand inclusion as an active practice. We strive to create spaces that honor the full range of human identity and experience, celebrating diversity as a sacred gift. This commitment shows up in our worship, our programs, and our engagement with the wider community as we work to make our welcome visible, meaningful, and lived.
Ongoing Growth and Faithful Learning
We recognize that becoming a truly inclusive community is ongoing spiritual work. UUFH continues to learn, reflect, and grow by using inclusive language, offering programming that reflects LGBTQ+ lives and stories, and nurturing conversations across generations. Our faith calls us not only to affirm marriage equality and dignity for all people, but to keep listening and evolving as new understandings emerge.
Affirmation Through Justice and Action
For UUFH, welcoming LGBTQ+ people is inseparable from our commitment to justice. We believe faith must be lived beyond our walls, and we speak out and act when the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people are threatened. Guided by love, reason, and our Unitarian Universalist principles, we seek to build a community—and a world—where all people can live fully and freely.
Member and leader Dr. Helen Bishop on what it means to be a Welcoming Congregation:
“What I’m determined to do is continue to remind you…this is our spiritual home, our faith community, but we can’t do it in silence. I’m lesbian, so’s she, so’s she, so’s she. Some of you in your lives which we don’t know much about are either transgender, bisexual, have those things in your background.
“I believe that we should be changing our vocabulary and talking differently to our children. I think every child should know who we are and that we care deeply about them…Everybody is welcome here.
“If you don’t know what your relationships are going to be in the future, this is a place where we can open a door for you, help you with your family issues if you have them, tell you we love you and we are prepared for you.”
Dr. Helen Bishop
Resources
List of local organizations where you can find more information, advocacy, and support from and for our LGBTQ+ community.