Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists do not have an official, unified corpus of sacred texts. Unitarian Universalist congregations include many atheists, agnostics, deists, and theists; there are churches, fellowships, congregations, and societies around the world.
Operation Save America is a fundamentalist Christian conservative organization based in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, that opposes human induced abortion and its legality, Islam, and homosexuality. In 1994, Flip Benham became the director of the organization, then called Operation Rescue National. Benham replaced Keith Tucci, who had replaced Randall Terry. Terry, Tucci and Benham have all been convicted of crimes related to their protest activities. Rusty Thomas became the national director after Flip Benham stepped down.
Patrick Lloyd McCrory is an American politician, businessman, and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. As of 2023, McCrory remains the only Republican elected as governor of North Carolina in the 21st century. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009.
Philip "Flip" Benham is an Evangelical Christian minister and the national leader of Concord, North Carolina–based Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group that evolved from Operation Rescue.
Unitarian Universalism, as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.
Michael Francis Burbidge is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the bishop of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia since 2016. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2006 and as bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh in North Carolina from 2006 to 2016. He is the chairman of the Pro-Life Activities Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
George David Exoo was an American Ohio-born former Unitarian Universalist minister and assisted suicide activist who spent months in jails after he was accused of helping a woman in Ireland kill herself. He became a Unitarian Universalist minister in 1973, but resigned in 2002 because of the Irish legal charges against him. He was originally a Methodist and had a doctorate in music history from University of California, Berkeley.
The North Carolina Religious Coalition for Marriage Equality was an interfaith same-sex marriage advocacy group composed of religious leaders in North Carolina. The group's headquarters were at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh which has hosted speeches with James A. Forbes of the Riverside Church in regards to LGBT rights. The steering committee included executive director Jimmy Creech, group coordinator Chantelle Fisher-Borne, Mary E. Grigolia of the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Jack McKinney of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Susan Parker of Wake Forest Baptist Church, Steve Smith of the North Carolina Council of Churches, and Wanda Floyd of the Imani Metropolitan Community Church.
The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu is the largest Hawaii-based congregation within the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is located at 2500 Pali Highway in the Nu'uanu Valley.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in North Carolina since October 10, 2014, when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper that the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional. Governor Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper had acknowledged that a recent ruling in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear an appeal in that case established the unconstitutionality of North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage. State legislators sought without success to intervene in lawsuits to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage. North Carolina was the 28th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
Peter Morales is an American former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Morales was the UUA's first Latino president. In the early 2000s, he was the senior minister of the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Jefferson County, Colorado, a rapidly growing Unitarian Universalist congregation in the northwestern Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. He also worked for the UUA from 2002 to 2004. In 2008, he announced his candidacy for president, and in 2009 he was elected. As the result of a controversy regarding the UUA's hiring practices and charges of institutional racism, Morales resigned as president in 2017, three months before the end of the term.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of North Carolina may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents, or LGBT residents of other states with more liberal laws.
Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") congregation in Summit, New Jersey, United States, formally organized in 1908 as The Unitarian Church in Summit. It is active in social justice initiatives and received the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Social Justice Award in 2010. It has also been recognized as an outstanding UU congregation by various UU groups. In 2016, Robin Tanner became the Minister of Worship and Outreach.
Moral Mondays are protests that originated in North Carolina, United States and emerged elsewhere in the United States. Led by religious progressives, the leaders of the protesters sought to restore "morality" in the public sphere. Protests began in response to several actions by the government of North Carolina which was elected into office in 2013 and are characterized by civil disobedience—specifically entering the state legislature building to be peacefully arrested. The movement protests many wide-ranging issues under the blanket claim of unfair treatment, discrimination, and adverse effects of government legislation on the citizens of North Carolina. The protests in North Carolina launched a grassroots social justice movement that, in 2014, spread to Georgia and South Carolina, and then to other U.S. states such as Illinois and New Mexico.
Christopher Michael Sgro is an American politician and political strategist best known for his work advocating for LGBT rights in North Carolina. He is a former member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and former executive director of Equality North Carolina. In 2017, Sgro became Communications Director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT rights organization in the United States, where he later served as Senior Vice President of Communications. He currently works as spokesperson for Meta.
The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as House Bill 2 or HB2, was a North Carolina statute passed in March 2016 and signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory. The bill amended state law to preempt any anti-discrimination ordinances passed by local communities and, controversially, compelled schools and state and local government facilities containing single-gender bathrooms to only allow people of the corresponding sex as listed on their birth certificate to use them; it also gave the state exclusive rights to determine the minimum wage.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, Ohio is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") church in Kent, Ohio. Founded in 1866, the current building was completed by builder Joseph Gridley (1820-1902) in 1868 on land donated by philanthropist Marvin Kent and rests on a bedrock of sandstone. Its 19 founding members were among the major movers and shakers of the then Village of Franklin Mills, and included abolitionists and Civil War veterans. They were: Dr. Aaron M. Sherman, M.D., who served as a Civil War surgeon, a prominent civic promoter, served many terms on the local school board, co-founded the Rockton Masonic Lodge that occupies the historic 1883 summer home of Marvin Kent on West Main Street, served as a State Representative in the Ohio State House of Representatives and whose 1858 home first built by Zenas Kent for his daughter Frances and her husband George Wells was recently saved, moved and restored by local historic preservation activists, Arvin Olin, Ransom Olin, Nelson Olin, Joseph Stratton, who, in 1882, donated the large bell that is in the church belfry, Phillip Boosinger, Mary Boosinger, Rhoda Boosinger, James D. Haymaker and Mary Rosetta Olin Haymaker, J.G. Whitcomb, T.H. Marshall, Eliza Wright, A. Merrell, Almund Russell, Sybil Bradley, Effie Parsons, Mary J. Parsons and Mary A. Furry. These 19 men and women gathered on May 27, 1866, to write and sign the church's constitution in the historic 1836 Village Hall that would serve as an early place of worship before the church building was completed next door in 1868. It is the only church still using its original 19th century building in the city of Kent and in 1976 the site was designed as a "significant restored building site". In the early and middle twentieth century when there were few women clergy anywhere in the United States, the church is notable for having several women ministers: Abbie Danforth in 1889, Carlotta Crosley in 1903, and Violet Kochendoerfer in 1972. Membership is between 140 and 200 full-time adults as well as 100 children in its religious education programs. The church runs a summer camp called Kent Hogwarts which is a Harry Potter-themed camp for young kids, which emphasizes chemistry, poetry, singing and community service. The church advocates social justice, environmental awareness, democracy and acceptance of diverse peoples including all religions. The Kent church follows the seven basic principles of Unitarian Universalism.
House Bill 142 is a 2017 law that was enacted in the state of North Carolina that repealed House Bill 2. The bill states that all "state agencies, boards, offices, departments, institutions, branches of government, including The University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System, and political subdivisions of the State, are preempted from regulation of access to multiple occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities, except in accordance with an act of the General Assembly." It also enacted that no local government in this state may enact or amend an ordinance regulating private employment practices or regulating public accommodations until December 1, 2020.
The legal and regulatory history of transgender and transsexual people in the United States begins in the 1960s. Such legislation covers federal, state, municipal, and local levels, as well as military justice. It reflects broader societal attitudes which have shifted significantly over time and have impacted legislative and judicial outcomes.
Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Northwest) was organized in 1969. The organization of Northwest was the result of action taken by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta (UUCA) to establish a new congregation in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta.
