social witness
UUs march for reproductive rights
About 2,000 Unitarian Universalists from almost 200 congregations were among the million people who took part in the April 25 March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. The march was called the largest women's reproductive health march in history and possibly the largest demonstration held in the capital since the civil rights marches of the 1960s.
In addition to the march, UUs participated in a Saturday night candlelight vigil in front of the Reflecting Pool on the Mall. Sunday morning worshippers packed the sanctuary of All Souls Church in Washington, where the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, president of Starr King School for the Ministry, preached.
The Rev. Meg Riley, director of the UUA's Advocacy and Witness staff group, was energized by the weekend. “Imagine,” she said, “Unitarian Universalists from thirty-seven states pouring into the nation's capital. Along with our mothers and daughters, supportive men, and transgendered people, we chanted, sang, and marched our faith.”
The 87-member Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Montana raised $1,800 for InterMountain Planned Parenthood, which used it to help send eleven Montana college students toWashington.
The youth group at the First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts, raised $600 to send six of its members to the march.
Tess Brown-Lavoie, a youth group member said, “It was more intense than I thought it would be. I'd been to protests before, but this was such a vast array of people. I went because I wanted to be a part of something so important.”: 48