First Parish Bedford UU

Having fulfilled the requirements of our denomination to be a “Welcoming Congregation,” First Parish is intentional about celebrating the presence and full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in all aspects of congregational life. We also welcome all persons regardless of race, economic status, theological and political perspective, or other distinctions that keep us from embracing our common humanity. We acknowledge that we still have work to do and we welcome your advice about how we may be more welcoming.  We want to say, truthfully: All are welcome here!

Colby Berger earned her Masters degree in Education with a focus on Anti-homophobia Education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.  During her graduate studies she co-directed and produced "Learning to be Straight:  The(De)construction of Heterosexuality," an educational film that she has since presented in numerous academic and professional development settings. 

Colby is a former high school English teacher who sparked an outcry in the local media in Havertown PA when she started the district's first gay-straight alliance.  She later went on to work as the Assistant Director of SpeakOut, the nation's oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) speaker's bureau, and was subsequently hired by The Home for Little Wanderers to help start Waltham House, the first co-ed group home for LGBT youth in the country.  The Massachusetts Department of Social Services hired Colby and a team of trainers to conduct LGBT sensitivity training for over two thousand social workers in the state.  This training initiative set a national precedent which Colby is now helping other states to replicate.

Colby received the outstanding student achievement award for her leadership at Harvard and later earned recognition from the Los Angeles based Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS) as a GLASS Champion and was named Massachusetts Democratic Future's LGBT Activist of the Year in 2002.  The City of Cambridge named Colby as co-chair of its board of LGBT Commissioners.  Ms. Berger has written for the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide and contributed a chapter to The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's groundbreaking publication "Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth: An epidemic of homelessness."  Previously Colby was the Director of LGBTQ Services at The Home for Little Wanderers where she provided training and consultation on sexual orientation and gender identity issues to child welfare agencies, schools, businesses, mental health facilities and non-profit organizations nation wide.
As Colby’s professional focus gravitated toward child welfare systems, she returned to graduate school to complete a Master of Social Work degree at the Simmons School of Social Work. Currently Colby is the Executive Director of Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring, a Boston-based non-profit which finds mentors for youth in foster and adoptive settings. 

The Welcoming Congregation Program is a completely volunteer program for congregations that see a need to become more inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people. It consists of a series of workshops developed by the UUA. The goal of the workshops is to reduce prejudice by increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations.

Some of the workshop titles include: How Homophobia Hurts Heterosexuals; Connections to Other Forms of Oppression; Gender Socialization and Homophobia; and Biblical Perspectives on Homosexuality. Many congregations offer the workshop series several consecutive times as an adult religious education curriculum open to all members and friends.

In some congregations the workshop series (and later the entire program) is sponsored by a Welcoming Congregation Task Force/Committee created for just this purpose, while other congregations sponsor the workshop series through their Interweave chapters. In either case, the workshops are best facilitated by those that have experienced the curriculum.