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我的名字是余俊維。我是尋道會秘書。尋道會是香港的UU開明宗教團體。在美國，UU有超過一千間教會，會員約二十五萬。我們源出於基督教自由派，接納科學、進化論、世界宗教、與同性戀。
我們致力消除任何歧視。在美國，我們是第一個大型宗教團體完全包容同志，接納同志成為牧師。在九三年，北卡羅來納州的UU教會公開示威，反對當地的反肛交條例。九四年，我們教會支持美國的雇傭非歧視法，消除招聘上的性傾向歧視。九六年，我們的週年大會通過促請美國政府儘快把同性婚姻合法化。在同性婚姻合法化的州份，我們教會往往是最先替同志舉行婚禮的教會。例如於零四年五月，麻省同性婚姻合法化，麻省的UU教會慶祝之餘，更大量替同志舉行婚禮。在同性婚姻未合法化的州份，我們教會也替同志伴侶舉行「聯合祝福禮」。
大家今晚聽到的其中一首歌 "We Are a Gentle, Angry People" 是為記念三藩市首位同志議員夏菲米克於一九七八年被鎗殺而寫。這歌已被納入UU詩歌書。今晚播出的版本亦是由美國一間UU教會的詩班唱出。讓我以第五節歌詞結束："We are gay and straight together, and we are singing, singing for our lives." ("我們同志、直人一條心，為我們的生命高歌！") 試想像，在一間有回聲的尖頂大教堂中，詩班與會眾在管風琴伴奏下高歌 "we are gay and straight together" ("我們同志、直人一條心")。這幅美好的圖畫，正實現在眾多UU教會之中！
My name is Ronald. I am the Secretary of Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong, UUHK for short. UUHK is the Hong Kong group of the liberal religion Unitarian Universalism, that is UU. In United States, UU consists of around 250 000 members in over 1 000 churches. We originate from liberal Christianity and we accept science, evolution, world religions, and homosexuality.
UU supports abolishing all kinds of discriminations. In the United States, we are the first large religious organization to ordain homosexual ministers. In 1993, we publicly protested North Carolina's anti-sodomy laws. In 1994, we supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. At the annual General Assembly in 1996, a resolution was passed urging legalization of same-sex marriages in United States. On May 20, 2004, same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. UU churches took a major role in solemnizing same-sex marriages, and celebrating the availability of marriage to same-sex couples for the first time in the U.S. In places where same-sex marriage has not been legalized yet, we carry out a Ceremony of Union to recognize and celebrate unions of LGBT people.
One of the songs you are listening to tonight, the song “We Are a Gentle, Angry People,” was written after the first openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was murdered in 1978. This song has been incorporated into the UU hymn book. And the version you are listening to tonight is sung by the choir of a UU church. Let me close with verse 5: "We are gay and straight together, and we are singing, singing for our lives." Imagine in a large church hall with reverberations, the choir and the congregation, accompanied by an organ, sing aloud "we are gay and straight together". This beautiful picture has been realized in our numerous UU churches!
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