4 'woke' moments from UMC General Conference
Diversity monitoring
During the opening plenary session, a presentation was given by Dawn Wiggins Hare, general secretary of the UMC General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, and the Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo, general secretary of the UMC General Commission on Religion and Race.
They discussed how their commissions were monitoring the event to keep proper decorum, respect for the rules of the gathering and respect for diversity.
Arroyo asked delegates who addressed the event to state not only their name, annual conference and if they were laity or clergy but also their gender identity and racial or ethnic identity if they were comfortable.
Hare said that the monitoring promoted “gender inclusion,” with her urging attendees to be respectful of “avoiding exclusively male language for God.”
The following day, Arroyo and Hare gave a “report card” charting the racial and gender makeup of the legislative committees' leadership, including one “nonbinary” person listed.
Hare warned that there were some “hiccups” with the proceedings, citing as an example to "work a little bit harder on inclusion with language and interpretation."
