By Rev. Charles Loflin, Executive Director
Earlier this month, in collaboration with our Gala planning committee, we made the decision to cancel the Reproductive Justice Gala that had been planned for February 8 at the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. I wanted to take a moment to offer some details around that decision as well as UU FaithAction’s plans for the rest of this fiscal year.
The hope behind our Gala is to gather to lift up the work of our Task Forces and to honor the coalition partners, the UU congregations and the amazing volunteers who make this work possible. It is a time to connect and celebrate. Unfortunately, the outcome of the presidential election and the anxiety generated by the newly inaugurated administration were not conducive to a celebratory event. This year, our plan was to highlight the work of the Reproductive Justice Task Force. The immediate needs of our own task force as well as of our Reproductive Justice coalition partners demanded full focus on advocacy.
We considered rescheduling, but the calendar becomes a complicating factor, especially in the spring and summer. Given all the circumstances, cancelling seemed the unfortunate but appropriate action to take.
However, we want to be very clear that the work of Reproductive Justice continues for UU FaithAction and within the state of New Jersey. With reproductive rights under attack nationally and the reticence among current New Jersey lawmakers to take the necessary bold action to expand and protect those rights with appropriate funding, the work is more critical than ever. We continue to fiercely advocate for justice, and we look forward to the time when we can celebrate the progress we are committed to manifesting.
We also want to thank the Morristown UU Fellowship for agreeing to host this year. We look forward to a future UU FaithAction event in their beautiful new Fellowship Hall.
Looking ahead, our next UU FaithAction event will be our Annual Meeting. We will be sharing more details soon and are exploring the possibility of an expanded program to more deeply engage Reproductive Justice and each of our justice areas.
Finally, we recognize that the Gala is an important fundraiser for UU FaithAction. Please consider making a financial gift to UU FaithAction so that we can continue to educate, advocate, and mobilize. Our enduring commitment to justice is most critical when justice is most challenged.
In deep gratitude,
Rev. Charles Loflin
Executive Director