Our Marriage Equality Banner
After going through the UUA program our congregation voted to become a Welcoming Congregation in 1993. In 2006 our Inclusion Task Force voted to have a more visible expression of our support for equal marriage rights for all by having a banner outside the church. With Board and Congregational support, members of the Inclusion Task Force and the Social Justice Council purchased and erected the banner on June 14th.
| Congregants gathered after the Sunday service on June 15th to show their support. |  |
| Unfortunately the banner was vandalized on the night of July 2nd. |  |
| Members of the congregation carried the torn banner in Rochester's annual Gay Pride parade on Saturday, July 8, and a replacement was installed on the church after the service on July 9th. |  |
| The New York State Marriage Equality Act became law on Friday, June 24 2011. Congregants gathered after the Sunday service to celebrate under our banner, five years after it was hung. |  |
| Barriers to, and outright prohibitions of, marriage equality continue to exist in other states, and discrimination at the federal level is mandated by the Defense of Marriage Act. In recognition of the need for continuing struggle we obtained a new banner, which was introduced at services in late March 2012. |  |
March 28 2012