Submission 218
Cynthia Landrum
First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist of Stow & Acton (Stow, MA) 5034
What is your suggestion or idea?
Change the color of the part of the image described as ““Teal”” to a color in the green range that works with the other colors.
What is the reason for your amendment idea?
Many ministers and religious educators have been describing the ““petals”” in the image as a rainbow, and some have used items as illustrations such as flowers with a rainbow of petals. This fits with the way we’ve had wonderful images of the Principles as a rainbow. Yet the image is surprising in that it is not a rainbow of colors, and has two blues. Those blues are very close to each other in shade, making them difficult for many people with differing visions to distinguish. In addition, green is a culturally important color – it connects to the value of ““generosity”” in being the color of money; it connects to the value of ““interdependence”” in being the color associated with climate change activism; it connects to values of ““pluralism,”” ““equity,”” and ““justice”” as making part of the rainbow used in LGBTQ+ activism. The absence of green makes it look like we’re purposefully avoiding having a rainbow of values, which is saddening particularly during this political time.
Have you discussed this idea with your congregation or other UUs?
Yes, I’ve brought this up in many places with colleagues and congregants. Sometimes it gets a laugh when I say my amendment will be to turn teal to green, because we’ve never had such an amendment before, not having ever had graphics in the bylaws. Many times, however, people have agreed with me that having two blues and no green is not what they would prefer.