Last Sunday, Sunday Fellowship joyfully celebrated LGBTQIA+ identity and being part of an “Open and Affirming” church for twenty-five years.

During our tribal land acknowledgement, we learned about Geo Soctomah Nepune, an Indigenous Passamaquoddy master basket weaver, drag performer, and model in Maine who identifies as a “two-spirit” person. To learn more about the indigenous concept of gender known as “two-spirits” watch this video.

Geo Soctomah Neptune is an Indigenous Passamaquoddy master basket weaver, drag performer, and model. As a Two-Spirit creator, Neptune works with Passamaquoddy and other Wabanaki youth to preserve cultural arts practices by teaching basket weaving across Maine. In addition to their art, Neptune’s work has extended into the political sphere, after becoming the first openly Two-Spirit person to be elected into public office in Maine in 2020. They continue to spread awareness about political and social issues impacting Indigenous people through their activism.

To show our support for LGBTQIA+ people, many of whom have been harmed by the Church, we wore rainbow clothing and painted rainbows on our hands. We sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow and True Colors by Cyndi Lauper and talked about each letter of the LGBTQIA acronym. Bekah Maren Anderson and Allison Connelly-Vetter, two queer women with disabilities, shared aspects of their personal journeys with us through a prepared interview. You can watch the interview with subtitles here. Then we used a social story to learn more about the many ways people define and express their gender identity.

We wanted to make sure people would know West Concord Union Church is a safe place for LGBTQIA+ people. We made kindness rocks with rainbow crosses to put outside, some of us added pronouns to our nametags and many of us signed the Open and Affirming Covenant adopted by WCUC in 1999. It was an awesome day!