In 1988 six members of UUCWC formed the Working Group for Gay and Lesbian issues (WGGLI) and held an “envisioning event” with 25 members of the Social Responsibility Committee.  This was the beginning of a formal focus on same-sex issues.

On the national level, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which had been on record since 1970 as supporting the rights and worth of lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons, voted at the 1989 General Assembly to initiate the Welcoming Congregation Program.   UUCWC began working toward being a welcoming congregation and in 1991 we were the fifth congregation in the nation to earn the UUA designation of “Welcoming Congregation”.

In 2009, UUCWC realized there were many new members who had not participated in any of the earlier activities or workshops held twenty years earlier.  Using the newly issued UUA handbook that provided tools for updating the congregation’s knowledge (especially of bisexuality and transgender identity, neither of which had been included in the first Welcoming Congregation Handbook), Side With Love at UUCWC, in cooperation with Adult Faith Engagement, offered our Living the Welcoming Congregation classes.  Over a two-year period approximately 25% of UUCWC members participated in part or all of the LWC program workshops. 

Today, UUCWC continues to expand how they welcome those who identify as LGBTQIA+ in our spaces.  Read more here.