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On September 7, 2025, more than a hundred people gathered online to launch The Woodlands: A Sacred Space for Trans Belonging & Collective Liberation. They came seeking care, fellowship, and connection—and they found it.
The Woodlands is more than a pastoral care program. It is a sanctuary rooted in Unitarian Universalist values, a space where affirmation, healing justice, and spiritual grounding come together. Here, trans and non-binary people of all ages, along with our families and caregivers, are not treated as problems to solve or political pawns to debate, but as we truly are: beloved, whole, and holy.
To affirm and protect trans lives is not a side project; it is a spiritual obligation.
Unitarian Universalism teaches that every person carries inherent worthiness and dignity. For trans and non-binary people living amid hostility and violence, that principle must be more than words—it must be embodied. To affirm and protect trans lives is not a side project; it is a spiritual obligation.
Across the country, UU congregations are answering this call by uplifting The Woodlands and building a groundswell of care. They are weaving The Woodlands into their ministries—sharing resources, amplifying its gatherings, and creating local circles of belonging. By doing so, they declare that the survival and flourishing of trans and non-binary people is not optional work, but central to their spiritual practice.
As a non-binary, board-certified chaplain and Transgender Support specialist at the UUA, I founded The Woodlands at the invitation and under the leadership of Rev. Ashley Horan, UUA vice president for Programs and Ministries, who recognized the urgent need for such a space. Together with UUA staff, trans and non-binary UU chaplains, and a dedicated team of helpers, we built The Woodlands as a sacred, affirming place where trans and non-binary people, their families, and caregivers can gather, heal, and simply be.
Get Connected
Learn more and register to attend at uua.org/lgbtq/thewoodlands.
At its heart, The Woodlands rests on five values: affirmation, spiritual grounding, intergenerational wisdom, healing justice, and community. These values shape every gathering, ritual, and conversation.
The inaugural gathering centered on the theme Trans Joy. Each month, a new theme will guide the community. Participants entered to gentle music, shared a covenant of care, lit a chalice, and read from My Rainbow—by DeShanna and Trinity Neal, illustrated by Art Twink—a children’s book celebrating trans love and authenticity used as sacred text. Breakout groups then offered tailored pastoral care:
- Saplings (ages 13–high school)
- Sycamores (18+ trans adults)
- Sequoias (parents/caregiver of trans and non-binary people)
- Sequoias Jr. (parents/caregivers accompanying trans and non-binary participants 12 and under)
Each space, led by two chaplains, held its own stories, tears, and laughter before everyone reunited for closing words and a blessing—a reminder that what we hold together in The Woodlands becomes part of the wider world we return to.
One participant, Joseph L., reflected, “The Woodlands has an important role to play in creating community among trans people. We need to talk about the very difficult current climate together and bolster each other as we move forward. In the first meeting, I could see the beginnings of this connection forming and look forward to watching it grow.”
This is the purpose of The Woodlands, to transform isolation into connection, fear into courage, despair into resistance, and loneliness into belonging.
This is the purpose of The Woodlands, to transform isolation into connection, fear into courage, despair into resistance, and loneliness into belonging. At its center is trans joy—defiant, holy, and necessary. In a world that seeks to erase trans lives, every smile, every chosen name, every celebration of authenticity is a declaration: We are here, we are sacred, we are part of the web of existence, and we will not be erased.
The launch exceeded expectations, drawing so many participants that new UUA staff were added to support the program. Trans and non-binary people—and their communities of care—are seeking spiritual grounding, spaces where their lives are honored as sacred, and a place to relax with one another.
The Woodlands is not just an event but an unfolding story of collective liberation. While we cannot end political cruelty on our own, we can build communities that outlast it, communities where trans and non-binary people are safe, cherished, and free to flourish.
When the chalice flame was extinguished that September afternoon, its light remained—in every participant, facilitator, child, youth, and adult. It continues to shine in The Woodlands, gathering each month to carry the rainbow flame of trans joy into a world that desperately needs it.
Trans lives are sacred. Trans joy is revolutionary. The Woodlands proves that faith and love can create not only survival, but the fullness of life itself. The Woodlands proclaims what our faith demands: that trans and non-binary people are not expendable, not debatable, not optional. We are holy. We are the future. We are the fierce, radiant heart of our collective liberation. And so, we declare: We will not hide, we will not be erased, and we will not settle for survival alone. We will flourish. We will shine. We will build the world we deserve—together.