Progressive Voices Silenced by Tragedy in Tennessee

If you haven't heard the news yet, it's disturbing and unbelievable- in the truest sense of the word. On Sunday morning, over 200 people were worshiping at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville when a gunman came in and fired. In the next few minutes, before he was tackled by congregation members, he shot and killed 2 people and wounded 7 others. The children's' choir was performing when he began his deranged act.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOAQKzY-aOBqDspFkEAV_ZO65vZAD927KA6O0

The man clearly has mental illness if he is willing to go shoot innocent strangers. But if you read the reports of what happened, you'll see that he targeted the members of that church becuase of their liberal views and specifically because they promoted women's and LGBT rights.

As a 4th generation Unitarian Universalist myself, I am proud of our denomination's history of working for social justice for all people and I feel lucky that my work at Planned Parenthood and my spiritual life are so easily congruent. The congregations I grew up in always stood up for the marginalized, always wanted a better world for everyone, and never placed judgments on people based on their gender, sexual orientation, race, creed ... or decision to terminate an unplanned pregnancy.

What's so mind-boggling to me is that this spirituality of love and acceptance was so threatening and angering to the gunman in Knoxville that he not only wanted those liberal values to be silenced, but that he thought he had the right to kill the people who shared and promoted those values.

When you work daily in a movement that some consider controversial, you are aware of the history of violence that came before. As a fighter for reproductive justice, I'm aware of the violence clinic workers and doctors have had to endure to do their jobs. I am aware of the clinic bombings (even right here in Michigan) and the murdering of abortion doctors back in the 1990s. It's so bizarre to think that someone disagrees with our message of Choice so much that they would want to literally destroy us and our work- like it's unbelievable that a man in Tennessee hates liberal ideals so much that he kills members of a congregation, in front of their own children, during a church service.

My heart is with the congregation of UUs in Knoxville. My heart is with our movement too, as we work towards social justice for all people. I have faith that our movement for women's rights and LGBT rights will come to fruition despite hateful acts of violence.