Archives:   WE ARE ONA (Open and Affirming) – Continuing to Learn and Grow

SEPTEMBER 2025 Article

It’s been 10 years since same-sex marriage was recognized nationwide, but in recent months, the Trump administration has targeted the LGBTQ+ community and has been working to roll back some of the policies that support them.

The video included here,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huifF-EolKw
is centered in Boston, MA; however it provides solid insights into the MULTIPLE changes that our current administration is placing on our LGBTQ+ friends and family!
Watch – Learn and Grow. Then get INVOLVED!!
Your Pilgrim ONA Team

OCTOBER 2025 Article

Part of continuing to learn and grow – means we must travel into the uncomfortable at times.

We (both Pilgrim and the wider UCC) can’t learn to accept what we don’t know.

Your ONA Team has two videos for you this month!

  • The first video is Rev. Derek Terry the UCC Acting Executive Director of the Open and Affirming Coalition, as he addresses the delegates and visitors at this year’s General Synod 35 to honor the 40th anniversary of the 1985 ONA resolution.

His message? That LGBTQ+ people have always been part of the church—and that inclusion, justice, and love are sacred callings.

https://vimeo.com/1101670425?share=copy

  • Our second video comes from The Trevor Project – the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people, ages 13-24.

“Are you ashamed of this about me?” is a video about Mat.

When Mat asked his mom Haylin that question, everything changed. In our latest episode of Learn with Love, we hear their powerful journey. Haylin, a therapist and loving parent, learned to accept and understand that what her son Mat truly needed was unconditional support for who he is.

Together, Mat and Haylin show us that family support, acceptance, and access to transgender healthcare can turn fear into love, and silence into pride

Parents everywhere (all of us!) can learn from their journey: acceptance saves lives.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18U7c3RvUg/

Our challenge as an Open and Affirming congregation is to Watch, Learn and Grow then get INVOLVED!

We would LOVE seeing you at our ONA meetings.

Or helping us prepare a meal for monthly Café Q meetings.

Check out our ‘home page’ on Pilgrim’s website: https://www.pilgrimuccfdl.org/open-and-affirming/

Your Pilgrim ONA Team