WASHINGTON, D.C. – Include Kink in Nondiscrimination and Diversity Education
Reposted for NCSF Coalition Partner Leather & Grace:
The Board of Trustees is the top governance body of the Unitarian Universalist Association, overseeing administrative operations, and setting policy in between General Assemblies.
Leather & Grace, an education and advocacy organization for UU kinksters, and a Coalition Partner of NCSF, is asking members and supporters to email UUA Trustees to include kink-oriented people under the Association’s non-discrimination policies, and to urge UUA staff to begin wider education efforts on BDSM and other forms of alternative sexual expression.
Some key points to include:
- Unitarian Universalism has been at the forefront of defending justice and equity for sexual minorities; the UUA first endorsed GLBTQ equality in 1970, developed groundbreaking curricula on sexuality education and diversity awareness, included a nondiscrimination clause for HIV-positive people in its employee manual as early as 1986, and has been at the forefront of the movement for marriage equality. Unitarian Universalist principles affirming the inherent worth and dignity of all people demands nothing less.
- Despite this history, a number of UU kinksters have faced discrimination which has denied them equal treatment within their congregations, even forcing some to choose leaving.
- Many ministers, seminarians and religious educators have stated they feel they have no guidance on how to deal with the subject of BDSM/kink/fetish sexuality, especially with the increased media attention given to this issue.
- Some UUA employees have confided that they do not believe current policies protect them from discrimination or harassment; it was even reported that some UUA staffers were witnessed making disparaging remarks about the Leather contingent at Boston Pride marches.
- We understand that implementing the educational element of this proposal will take time and effort. Leather & Grace stands ready to provide resources to assist with this.
To make it easy for you, we’ve included the email addresses for UUA Trustees and key staff in condensed format – just copy and paste where you’d put the recipient’s address.
pmorales@uua.org; gcourter@uua.org; dbrody@uua.org; craibleclark@uua.org; cgrubbs@uua.org; cking@uua.org; jpupke@uua.org; ccullen@uua.org; jshanti@uua.org; jlund@uua.org; djackoway@uua.org; navarett@uua.org; pmanley@uua.org; mtino@uua.org; sritchie@uua.org; nbartlett@uua.org; sstewart@uua.org; dharrison@uua.org; llaskowski@uua.org; egreene@uua.org; tloughrey@uua.org; gkreicker@uua.org; lphinney@uua.org; dfriedman@uua.org; jmorrill@uua.org; kallen@uua.org; tbrennan@uua.org; kmontgomery@uua.org; hlimpert@uua.org; dbrayden@uua.org; scurran@uua.org; nlawrence@uua.org; amarquis@uua.org; akapitan@uua.org; tboston@uua.org; jmjohnson@uua.org
To contact Leather & Grace, our email address is leatherandgrace@yahoo.com; our website is http://leatherandgrace.wordpress.com
