Finding a path of self-acceptance has not always been easy for Lou Madonna. However, when he joined the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County (UUCDC), the 67-year-old harnessed the strength to live more openly as a gay man.
“The church has been helpful in that it is a supportive community that let me network and connect with people with similar ways of thinking, similar ways of viewing the world and who I knew, gradually, that I could come out to,” Madonna said. “They supported me and affirmed me.”
The UUCDC marked its dedication to Madonna and other LGBT church members with a rededication ceremony of its metal rainbow flag. The May 21 ceremony marked 10 years since the flag’s installation on April 29, 2007.
This metal flag, which members of the church recently repainted, replaced two separate cloth rainbow flags hung on the church’s sign. Someone stole the flag in 2005 and the church replaced it with a second flag. However, this flag went missing on Nov. 10, 2006, two weeks after the church hung it. The flag was returned the next night, burned and partially shredded.
“The story of these flags echoes this church’s growth and determination over the years to remain true to its commitment to welcome and affirm LGBTQ people,” Madonna said during his speech at the rededication ceremony. “As a gay man who has attended this church for 36 years, I have seen it grow and struggle in its attempts to fully understand LGBTQ issues and instill a true culture of inclusion.”
Throughout the years, UUCDC has taken several steps to champion LGBT rights, such as performing civil unions and, later, same-sex marriages. Additionally, it appoints LGBT intern ministers, hosts LGBT support groups, advocates for LGBT-nondiscrimination laws and participates in Philly Pride.
“In rededicating this metal rainbow flag with its recently brightened colors, with a resolve that is as true as steel, this church demonstrates with this powerful symbol its perpetual commitment to refreshing, renewing and remaining contemporary in its understanding and advocacy of LGBTQ issues and its welcoming of the full integration of this population within the congregation and the community at large,” Madonna concluded in his address.
Madonna told PGN he appreciates UUCDC’s ability to accept all, no matter where they are on their spiritual journeys.
“Whenever I attend or come to the church, I feel that I am at home,” Madonna said. “I come into that community as a full person. There are no conflicts. I’m not hiding anything. I’m not compartmentalizing anything. When I am there, I feel that I am home. I feel that I am welcome.
“I’m at home as a spiritual humanist and as a gay man,” Madonna added. “I am greatly empowered in knowing that my personal and spiritual journey is understood, honored and celebrated, and that I am not alone.”
Visit www.uucdc.org for more information on the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County. Summer services are at 10 a.m., with a two-service schedule resuming in September.