Charting the Course of Justice: Help Map UULMCA's Future
For the past decade, UULMCA has been provided spiritually grounded justice leadership training, experiential learning adventures and organizing to advance specific issues of interest to UUs: marriage equality, healthcare reform, immigrant and environmental justice. The Board is engaging in a listening process to guide UULMCA's strategic direction and wants to hear from UUs across California. You are invited to add your experiences and input during this "Charting the Course of Justice" workshop.
We welcome all interested in bringing Unitarian Universalist values to the public square - whether you are a beginner or far along the path, and whether or not you have worked with UULMCA.
Join UULM at Immigrant Day at the State Capitol May 20
Monday, May 20th 9:00AM – 3:00PM
Support the TRUST Act and immigrant families
CA Unitarian Universalists will join immigrants, advocates and allies for an interfaith procession, rally, lunch and legislative visits. Bring your older children and youth for a day of civic engagement, putting faith into action. Training will be available prior to attending Immigrant Day on-line via conference call and/or in regional trainings in Los Angeles (April 30) and in Oakland on (May 6).
On September 12, 2012, Governor Brown signed AB 685, effectively making California the first state in the nation to explicitly recognize the human right to water. AB 685 aims to ensure universal access to safe water by recognizing that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water.” UC Berkeley’s report draws on domestic and international law to map when state agencies should consider the human right to water, what factors they should consider, and how they should advance the human right to water.
The World Wide Context of Migration
To adequately understand migration to the United States and to respond as Unitarian Universalists to the
issues surrounding this phenomenon, we need to recognize the most powerful force fueling the world wide
movement of people from region to region: economic globalization. (continued)
In the historic case before the US Supreme Court (Hollingsworth v Perry), the UU Legislative Ministry of CA joined interfaith partners to argue that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional on the grounds that religious liberty requires equal access to marriage for same-sex couples.
“the seminal decision on marriage equality is at its core a religious liberty precedent. For in Perez v. Sharp a Catholic couple persuaded California’s Supreme Court to overturn California’s law against mixed race marriages as a violation of their religious freedom.”
Read the FULL TEXT of the 2013 Interfaith Brief in Hollingsworth v Perry.
The 2013 Interfaith brief quotes, somewhat ironically, the argument of Catholic Bishops in the 1967 Loving v Virginia brief which ended the ban on interracial marriage. “Marriage is an exercise of religion protected by the 1st and 14th amendments” and thus “can be restrained only upon a showing that it constitutes a grave and immediate danger to interests which the state may lawfully protect.”
Human Right to Water Signed into Law in California!
September 25, 2012 Three cheers and thanks for all your support!
Governor Brown has signed AB685 (Eng), the Human Right to Water bill, into law! What a journey it has been. Members of low-income communities who live every day without access to safe affordable water have shown incredible resilience - never giving up and inspiring us all forward.
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry, CA been privileged to help form and be part of an inspiring coalition of faith, environmental justice, public health, tribal and environmental groups who came together to champion the human right to water in California.
Thanks to all the congregations who have helped to educate their members about the human right to water, to young adults participants in UULMCA's water justice road trips, and to all who have worked with our companion UULM Action Network to help elected officials understand what is at stake. You have each added an important drop that is creating a wave of change.
Read the August 2011 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation issued following her mission to the United States, including California. Learn more about the human rights framework and suggestions for action.
Photo: Community Members Celebrate Senate passage of AB685!
Thanks to the Central Coast Water Board!
Central Coast Water Board Passes Historic Irrigated Lands Ruling to Protect Water
Now on Appeal at California Water Board
On March 15, the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board passed historic new regulations in to protect ground and surface water from agricultural pollution. Some parties are now appealing to the State Water Quality Control Board to request a stay of these new requirements to protect water from agricultural runoff. This appeal will be heard on August 30th, 9:30AM at the CAL/EPA in Sacramento. Directions. http://www.calepa.ca.gov/EPAbldg/location.htm.
For more information on the "Ag Waiver" and its importance to protecting ground water, read Surface Tension.
For the past decade, UULMCA has been provided spiritually grounded justice leadership training, experiential learning adventures and organizing to advance specific issues of interest to UUs: marriage equality, healthcare reform, immigrant and environmental justice. The Board is engaging in a listening process to guide UULMCA's strategic direction and wants to hear from UUs across California. You are invited to add your experiences and input during this "Charting the Course of Justice" workshop. 
Monday, May 20th 9:00AM – 3:00PM
United for Marriage: Light the Way to Justice 
September 25, 2012 Three cheers and thanks for all your support!