Standing on the Side of Love

Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign sponsored by the UUA that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression.  It was launched at General Assembly in 2009, and has been a vehicle for UUs and others to participate in public debates over LGBT rights, immigration, and any situation where people are dehumanized through acts of exclusion, oppression or violence because of their identities.

I am appalled by the increased prevalence of speech and acts that are full of fear and hate.  The “Tea Party” rhetoric is one striking example, in which people are scapegoating the powerless and demonizing anyone who is different in some way.   The Standing on the Side of Love campaign seeks to lift up compassionate religious voices to influence public attitudes and public policy.  Because I was on sabbatical when it got started, I haven’t yet been able to bring this excellent campaign to our congregation’s full attention, but I am hoping that in the coming year we might explore it more fully, and see if it might enhance our own mission of social responsibility and involvement in community issues.

High on the list right now is the recent law passed in Arizona which criminalizes people who are in the country without documentation, and also casts a pall of fear and intimidation over anyone who by virtue of skin color and language is perceived as a potential “illegal.”  For example, what happens if a brown-skin person is pulled over for a traffic violation?  Will all brown skin people now be required to have a passport on hand at all times, to be able to prove that they are not an undocumented immigrant?  There is another part of the law which also criminalizes anyone giving aid or assistance to undocumented persons.  SB 1070 might be interpreted to make it illegal to feed the hungry at a soup kitchen, or give a homeless person a ride to the hospital, or welcome someone into a congregation.  There is a national protest in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, May 29, in which many of my UU colleagues are participating.

But this issue is not just one for Arizona.  This week I attended a vigil for a young man who is being detained right here in Portland.  Selvin Arevalo came to the United States from Guatemala ten years ago, when he was 14 years old.  Just before he was set to earn his high school diploma, he was detained after getting into a minor car accident, when he fled due to panic over his immigration status.  He has been a hard-working student, and is only one of many young people who are caught in similarly difficult situations.

To help us begin to more fully understand the human face of this political issue, I have invited my friend Rev. Virginia Marie Rincon to join us in worship on June 6th.  Rev. Virginia Marie has been ministering to the Latino community in Portland for many years, and I hope she will share stories from her work that will open up a window for us.  In the meantime, if you are curious about the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, you can get find out more online, and get involved directly, at www.standingonthesideoflove.org.

Rev. Myke