Direct Action
and Advocacy

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Host a Direct Action

Protest is at the heart of the Gospel. If protest is the antithesis of complicity in, apathy toward, or callousness in the face of suffering, then it is the definition of Jesus’ ministry! As we organize our communities in response to the Traditional Plan, we will need to follow the way of Jesus and stand between the implementation of these oppressive policies and the LGBTQIA persons and allies directly threatened by them.

Neutrality, as Archbishop Tutu reminds us, is not an option.

When we talk about protest, we are actually referring to two different kinds of action:

Direct Action Activism involves direct action(s) that place oneself between an oppressive force and those that force seeks to oppress. It risks one’s own well-being for the sake of another who, without intervention, will be denied the "abundant life" at the heart of Jesus’ ministry (John 10:10).
Advocacy involves the ongoing ways we harness the energy and awareness built through public actions to create change in our congregations, communities, and world.

In our theologically and contextually diverse denomination, we know that not every community will be able or ready to engage in a sit-in or physical demonstration. But there are many ways you can engage in protest no matter your community’s position or perspective.

For Moderate Churches and Churches in Conservative Annual Conferences

  • Invite LGBTQ persons to give testimony and participate in regularly scheduled worship services.
  • Participate in virtual demonstrations.
  • Hire seminary-trained LGBTQ individuals as associates and into staff positions. Publicly celebrate and announce your new hires (if the individuals hired are comfortable with that).
  • Elect as many progressive Annual Conference delegates as possible.
  • Continue to pay apportionments but send a letter of protest with each payment.
  • Align your ministry with a local LGBTQ civil advocacy group.
  • Appoint LGBTQ individuals and allies to the Board of Ordained Ministry (BoOM) and District Committees on Ordained Ministry. Prepare to send letters to your bishop urging the appointment of LGBTQ individuals and allies.
  • Witness at your conference office: take an open letter to the bishop, meet with the bishop, share stories, and ask them to do no more harm to LGBTQ people and allies.
  • Invite LGBTQ individuals to be guest preachers and publicize their appearance at your church before and after their preaching.
  • Schedule a pre- or post- Annual Conference gathering of people interested in learning about how they might support their LGBTQ members.
  • Write op-ed pieces for your local paper pertaining to the importance of full LGBTQ inclusion in the Church.
  • Start a mass letter- or email-writing campaign.

For Reconciling Congregations and Those Committed to Radical Inclusion

  • Continue to stay and stand in resistance until we are better positioned to live into the new expression of the Church.
  • Perform as many same-sex weddings as possible.
  • Ask for LGBTQ clergy to be appointed to your church.
  • Hire LGBTQ individuals to staff positions at your church.
  • Elect as many progressive Annual Conference delegates as possible.
  • Witness at your conference office: take an open letter to the bishop, meet with the bishop, share stories, and don’t leave without making a clear ask.
  • Invite LGBTQ individuals to be guest preachers, and publicize their appearance at your church before and after their preaching.
  • Schedule a pre- or post- Annual Conference gathering of people interested in learning about how they might support their LGBTQ members.
  • Suspend apportionment payments and put funds into an escrow account, OR organize other churches in your Annual Conference to send letters of protest with payment of their apportionments.
  • Advertise your welcome & inclusion of LGBTQ people in your Conference newspaper, local secular newspaper, or similar outlets.

Additional options for direct action activism and advocacy include but are not limited to:

  • Virtual protests on social media
  • Sit-ins or walk-outs
  • Mass letter or email-writing campaigns
  • Petitions
  • Building signage and banners

All of these are ways we can make our voices heard, build mutually supportive relationships, and resist the Traditional Plan. To learn more about the basics of organizing or participating in a direct action, download the planning guide below.

Direct Action Planning Guide

If you’re planning an action or protest, we encourage you to understand your state’s laws about direct action and assembly. This resource from FindLaw can help you find information about your state.

February Direct Action and Advocacy

With the Traditional Plan going into effect, we strongly encourage you to consider scheduling a direction action or advocacy opportunity for your community/congregation. This is the time to make our voices heard and empower our congregations to speak out against the harm that the Traditional Plan will cause the people, congregations, and communities we call home. In addition to the above suggestions, consider:

Congregational Life

  • Place a #ResistHarm banner or sign in front of your church
  • Create a display telling the story of the struggle in The UMC for equity and justice for all God’s people, and make the display readily visible at your church
  • Start or become a Reconciling Church, group, class, or district group
  • Mentor another group or church in your area through the Reconciling process
  • Create a welcoming statement for your church that includes affirmation of ALL God’s people
  • Host an anniversary party for all couples
  • Host a fundraiser for LGBTQ causes in your local area or elsewhere
  • Offer a marriage encounter course or retreat specifically for LGBTQ couples
  • Host a meal with and for LGBTQ people and/or organizations in your area
  • Display rainbow flags or other signage outside churches and homes
  • Study sermons from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Strength to Love. Sing Mark Miller’s “Only Love Can Do That,” which has lyrics from Dr. King’s sermons
  • If you haven’t already, consider becoming a Reconciling Congregation.

Individual Actions

  • Make quilts, scarfs or shawls of love for a shelter (a disproportionate number of LGBTQ youth experience homelessness)
  • Mentor an LGBTQ youth
  • Volunteer at PFLAG, Trevor Project, Family Equality Councils, LGBT National Help Center, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Transgender Law Center (TLC), or another organization focused on the LGBTQ community
  • Create an artistic expression of support for LGBTQ people
  • Attend an event in support of or to learn how to be better advocates for LGBTQ persons and other marginalized people
  • Speak up for and advocate for policies that positively impact the LGBTQ community
  • Sign up to become a Reconciling United Methodist
  • Schedule a meeting with your pastor, church council chair, or other leaders in your congregation. If they are celebrating all marriages, thank and encourage them. If they are not, encourage or challenge them to consider doing so.
  • Share your own story of becoming an LGBTQ-affirming or Reconciling United Methodist with friends, family, and on social media.

Worship

  • Conduct a reaffirmation of the marriage covenant or family blessing service (see examples of this service here)
  • Offer a healing service for LGBTQ, POC, people with disabilities, immigrants, and others marginalized by our Church and society
  • Invite people from the LGBTQ community to preach, give testimonies, or participate in worship in meaningful ways
  • Create and use rainbow altar cloths or other displays of solidarity in the sanctuary
  • Lift up stories of LGBTQ persons who have lived out brave and daring love
  • Dedicate a special offering for LGBTQ causes in your local area or nationwide
  • Hold a justice-focused prayer vigil

Upcoming Events

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Host a Resist Harm Direct Action

Thank you for stepping up to host a Resist Harm direct action. Don’t forget to register your event with Resist Harm and advertise on social media and with local churches to get the word out. Please fill out the form below to submit your direct action. Once approved, it will be promoted on this site!

A direct action should be family friendly, accessible, nonviolent, and legal. We want as many people as possible to feel comfortable attending these direct actions as possible.

Guidelines for Hosting a Direct Action

Direct actions are not sponsored by Resist Harm but Resist Harm provides tools, resources and promotion (where possible) for direct actions focused on resisting the Traditional Plan or other forms of evil and injustice. Resist Harm relies on volunteer direct action hosts to plan and organize the direct actions; those volunteer hosts, and not Resist Harm, are the sole organizers of all direct actions on this site. By submitting this form you agree, as the host of a direct action, that:

  • You are responsible for planning and supervising your direct action and ensuring that it is carried out in a safe and legal manner;
  • You will not request, direct, or knowingly permit anyone acting on your or your 
organization’s behalf to request or direct, any participant at your direct action to engage in any unlawful activity, including unlawful nonviolent direct action;
  • You will obtain any permits required for your direct action and comply with any requirements;
  • You will communicate and coordinate with local law enforcement authorities to make them aware of your direct action and offer to coordinate and cooperate with them in arranging for security of event participants and the public, to the extent applicable, necessary, or required by law;
  • Although Resist Harm is in a support role, you agree that Resist Harm does not necessarily authorize or adopt any statements or conduct made or undertaken by you or attendees at your event; and
  • Resist Harm, its partner organizations and any individual involved in Resist Harm or any partner organization do not assume or accept any liability for any injury to any person or damages to any property occurring in the course of, or by reason of, a direct action you organize as host.

What is the name or description of the group hosting the direct action?

What is this direct action about? Please include any special directions or other notes.

When does the direct action begin?

Where does it take place? Please remember to secure any permits that might be necessary.

What is the address for the direct action's location?

How can people contact you with questions?

If yes, Resist Harm will not recruit people to attend your direct action.

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Link to your group's page or the Facebook event for this direct action.

For information on hosting a same gender wedding, we recommend the resources at MarriageRites.org.

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Resist Harm is organized by everyday United Methodists in every corner of the connection and is supported by a number of organizational partners.* To learn more about our partners, visit their websites:
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