Desert Notes April 3, 2025

Last weekend our community hosted our first Transgender Day of Visibility community resource event on Saturday and a service on Sunday centered on the stories and experiences of trans and non-binary folks and their families. I am so grateful for the many people who volunteered on Saturday to help make our campus a welcoming and safe place for members of the larger community to come and connect with each other. We enjoyed food and conversation, yoga and workshops; we made collages and shared ideas for future gatherings and resources that are affirming for the trans/NB community. Shout out to Adrienne O’Donnell, Heather Rose, Christine O’Donnell, Paul and Kanasha Reed, Donna Long, Sheila Lopez, John Dunegan and Sol Oglesby-Dunegan for helping in many different ways! Participants shared in a closing circle how meaningful the event was and also how healing it was. My heart was very full! 

Sunday worship was also amazing. If you missed it, and want the link, please email me. We’ve made it an unpublished link to protect our speakers from harassment or other forms of violence. We had over 70 views before we moved it to unpublished, so I know many of you were able to see it. Many of you mentioned a commitment to reading the “Authentic Selves” book, and Christine O’Donnell and I are committed to organizing some more conversations about it. I was grateful for the music and the way VUU embraced our speakers and our own learning. This is what Unitarian Universalism is really all about!   

—Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan