

I am gay. Please don’t judge me until you get to know me!
I want to thank the United Church for being there when I was searching for a Church. I know that I am a good person, and for the Catholic...


“We the United Church of Canada extend our sincerest apology to…”
I was there in McLeod-Stewarton United Church in downtown Ottawa when people congregated in the sanctuary to argue about the issue of gay...


I think that when *we* apologize…
Dear United Church, I think that when we apologize, we need very much to go beyond saying we are sorry for overt acts of exclusion, for...


Our Affirming Process was challenging but transformative
I was around in 1988 but not really present. How did, and how does, this affect me, as a straight white female? In the late 80s this...


I learned love and faith were always okay and beautiful
I wasn’t alive in the 1980s when the United Church went through the process of accepting the LGBTQ+ community, but I have felt the...


My hope is that an apology will help us to let go of anger and hurt
I am a lesbian and would like to share my story with the United Church. I came out when I was studying for ministry in the late 1990s. I...


Being an outsider makes me seek to include others
For me, it started with AIDS in the early 1980s. Although I had been raised in the United Church, I found my spiritual awakening in a...


Seeing the Rainbow Colours
Today I learned about the decision made in 1988 regarding the United Church of Canada and LGBTQ people. I found myself shocked yet...


Supporting families, supporting gay, lesbian and trans people
In the 1960s, as a thirteen year old teenager, I dealt with a bisexual father and a mother with repeated postpartum depressions without...


Apology and the Community of Concern
Dear United Church, The thing that hurt the most was the way our minister, in Ottawa, a member of the Community of Concern, manipulated...