Unitarianism and
Universalism, two religious movements that merged in 1961 to form Unitarian Universalism, had a long history of reform of social institutions and were a home for many abolitionists, feminists, and other forward thinkers, including gay liberationists. The annual general assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association has passed more than thirty resolutions on LGBTQ issues, including
same-sex marriage,
LGB people in the military, the
Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and
transgender rights. In 1970, Unitarian Universalism was the first religion to officially condemn
discrimination against homosexuals. In 1989, the UUA began a Welcoming Congregation Program to support churches in intentionally becoming more inclusive of LGBTQ people. After meeting requirements related to church policy, education, advocacy, and more, congregations are designated as Welcoming Congregations. As of 2025, more than 80% of all U.S. Unitarian Universalist congregations and 99% of all Canadian Unitarian Universalist congregations had gone through the process of becoming Welcoming Congregations. In 2009, the UUA began a public advocacy campaign called Side With Love (originally Standing on the Side of Love) that “confronts issues of exclusion, oppression, and violence based on identity,” including LGBTQ issues. The campaign was started in reaction to a shooting at a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, TN, which was targeted because it welcomed LGBTQ people. In June 2023, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, a queer Afro-Latine cis woman, was elected as the UUA’s first out
queer president.
Ordination of LGBTQ clergy In September 1969, Rev.
James L. Stoll publicly
came out as gay, making him the first ordained minister of a major religious group in the
United States or
Canada to do so. The denomination ordained its first openly gay minister in 1979, and its first openly transgender minister was ordained in 1988. The program was revised several times over the next several decades and in 1999 was replaced with
Our Whole Lives, a joint program with the
United Church of Christ that continues to affirm LGBTQ identities in its curricula.
Same-sex marriage The first documented same-sex weddings conducted by Unitarian Universalist ministers were performed by Rev. Ernest Pipes Jr., at the Community Church of
Santa Monica, California, in 1957, and Rev. Harry Barron Scholefield, at the
First Unitarian Church of
San Francisco, in 1958. The first same-sex marriage performed by a church in Canada (after the 1972 civil same-sex marriage of
Michel Girouard and Rejean Tremblay of Montreal) was that of Chris Vogel and Richard North, married by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg on February 11, 1974, officiated by Unitarian minister Rev. Norm Naylor. Unitarian Universalists also performed the first same-sex marriages in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan, although the provincial governments often refused to recognize the marriages at the time. The Unitarian Universalist Association has officially supported Unitarian Universalist clergy performing services of union for same-sex couples since 1984. Seven of the fourteen plaintiffs in
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the case that legalized
same-sex marriage in
Massachusetts, were Unitarian Universalists. The denomination was very active in the fight for marriage equality in the United States through its advocacy campaign Side With Love. The UUA joined an
amicus curiae brief in support of same-sex marriage for
Obergefell v. Hodges, the
Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.
Transgender rights The Unitarian Universalist Association passed resolutions in support of transgender rights in 2007, 2016, 2021, and 2024. In 2022 the UUA submitted an amicus brief in
Eknes-Tucker v. Governor of the State of Alabama in support of the plaintiffs seeking to overturn
Alabama's SB 184 bill, which criminalized gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. In 2023 Unitarian Universalists began assisting transgender people in the United States who are relocating due to the passage of
anti-transgender laws through the Pink Haven Coalition, a joint project between trans organizers, Unitarian Universalist organizations, other progressive faith groups, and mutual aid networks. ==Instituted organizations==