Everyone is Welcome

Atlanta Friends Meeting is mindful of the fundamental Quaker testimonies of equality and integrity.
What draws individuals to the Quaker experience does so without regard to color, ethnicity or sexual
orientation.

Racism has been a concern of Atlanta Friends Meeting since the 1940s when the early group of Atlanta Friends  found a place to hold integrated meetings in a segregated city. During the 50s and 60s, Atlanta Friends were active in working to end segregation. The civil rights era was followed by a period in which the Meeting as a whole was not active on the issue of racism except in supporting external projects. In the 1980s, workshops focusing on personal racism were held. In the 1990s, committed individuals in the Meeting formed a group named ORAIIARH (Our Role as Individuals in America's Racial History) and led business meeting to ask, on a continuing basis, all committees and groups in the Meeting to prayerfully reflect on whether their activities contribute toward becoming more welcoming to all, and if not, what changes are needed. Since then the Meeting has also established a Committee on Undoing Racism in Atlanta Friends Meeting. We recognize the pervasive effects of racism and white privilege on our lives, communities, and society, and the need for whites as individuals to take an active role in ending racism.

In more recent years the Atlanta Friends Meeting has also become more sensitive to the concerns of ending discrimination against, and defending the civil rights of, persons identifying with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer communities, and we have established a support organization to help address  LGBTQ issues.

We are committed to having Atlanta Friends Meeting be a safe and welcoming spiritual home for all.

Our Role As Individuals in America's Racial History (ORAIIARH) meets every second Wednesday,
7:30 - 9 p.m. at the Meetinghouse. It serves as a support group for anyone with leadings to act against racism and especially for whites making personal changes to end complicity with racism. Contact: Bert Skellie.

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) is a support organization within the Atlanta Friends Meeting for the queer community and our allies.  We are deeply appreciative of the support that we have continued to find in this Meeting.   Another visible sign of this support is the small pink triangles or rainbows (both symbols of LGBTQ identity) that many members and attenders have chosen to wear on their name tags each Sunday.

Committee on Undoing Racism in Atlanta Friends Meeting meets every 4th Sunday after meeting and for  ½ day workday quarterly. It staffs a "Listening Ear" for concerns about racism twice a month and develops
learning opportunities such as forums. Contact: Susan Firestone

Fellowship of Friends of African Descent is a national Quaker group to nurture and respond to concerns of Friends of African Descent within the Religious Society of Friends. Contact: ffad@quaker.org

-- For more information, please see Equality Testimony