VARUUM -
Virginia-Arlington Rainbow UU Ministry

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Interweave

Human Rights Campaign

NGL Task Force Online

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Welcoming Congregation

As a Welcoming Congregation, UUCA publicly and intentionally welcomes bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people as members, friends and guests; celebrates the lives of all people and their ways of expressing their love for each other; and takes a public stand against oppression on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the larger community. The church's rainbow UU ministry group, VARUUM, invites you to visit our table in Fellowship Hall on Sunday to find out more about social, educational, outreach and social action activities. To join our email listserv, you may send an email to VARUUM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

VARUUM is a social and service organization for lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transgender people and their friends within the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington in Arlington, Virginia. Membership in the group is open to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation. For more information, contact the communications coordinator at thom@thomwatson.com.

Monthly Events
To be Determined

Service Projects
VARUUM members organize and participate in various service projects. These have included preparing a meal for the Arlington Street Pople's Assistance Network shelter, holding fundraisers to benefit UUCA and service groups such as SMYAL, and working together on UUCA projects such as book sales and the annual canvass.

Game Night
A monthly intergenerational event open to all UUCA members and friends, their children and guests. Participants bring their favorite games and munchies to share. A group game (e.g., charades, Pictionary, Twister) often is organized at 8 p.m. Game Night is held on the fourth Saturday of the month, from 6-9 p.m., at UUCA in the Youth Room, lower level. A member of the Gay Alliance volunteers to organize and host the event.

Social Justice Task Force
An ongoing effort by VARUUM members to act on UUCA's commitment to oppose oppression of people on the basis of their sexual orientation. The task force sponsors activitiies to promote understanding and action by gay and non-gay UUCA members and friends on social justice issues that arise from society's attitudes toward homosexuality; to educate ourselves and other UUCA members on issues affecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans; and to support efforts by other UUCA groups working on diversity issues.

Social Events
In addition to a monthly brunch, the group holds an annual holiday party and organizes such social events as SuperBowl parties and trips to see lesbian or gay entertainers at local clubs. Alliance members often go as a group to UUCA social events.

What is a Welcoming Congregation ?
The Welcoming Congregation Program was established in 1989 by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). It is a voluntary process by which a UU congregation chooses to educate itself on homosexuality and society's oppression of homosexuals; declare itself a safe, affirming religious "home" for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, and take a public stand against oppression on the basis of sexual orientation in the larger community. The UUCA became a Welcoming Congregation in October 1992, the first in the Washington DC area and in the UUA's Joseph Priestley District.