Viewpoint: Kate LaPlatney

When Kate joined our congregation almost 20 years ago, she didn’t realize how involved she would become. At the time, she just wanted her toddler to grow up knowing there are
communities that help shape your values and connect you with “whatever it is you define as sort of ‘the bigger mystery.’”

They found that and a lot more with UUSGS.

Kate, who has served twice on our Board of Trustees, was struck by the quality of our children’s programs. She saw kids’ “understanding of where they fit in with their community, with their world, with their family, their own gender identity — just understanding who they are” nurtured here.

When Kate’s daughter was around 7, she remarked on the number of “moms” in the congregation. But she didn’t mean people with kids. “‘I mean, like, people that will help take care of me if I ever have a problem,’” Kate remembers her daughter explaining. “She had this understanding that she could just walk into that building and be loved, be accepted, be celebrated.”

Kate wants everyone who comes through our doors to have that same understanding. And we’re working to make our physical space as loving as our spiritual space.

“Top of the list for me is the bathrooms,” Kate says. While she’s aware that toilets aren’t the most poetic or compelling topic at first glance, Kate makes clear just how much this matters: “For people to have a clean and comfortable place to take care of themselves, it really makes a statement about how we value [them].”
Tiny, gender-specific, and with unreliable locks, our first-floor bathrooms don’t quite embody the spirit of sanctuary. Kate especially wants to make sure our space feels safe and welcoming to our nonbinary and transgender community members.

“Really, truly welcoming, recognizing, affirming, celebrating everyone for who they are” is how Kate wants to be in the world, she says. And it’s how she wants our building to be. “Being able to pee in a place where you don't have to look over your shoulder or wonder if you're in the right room … it's a big deal.”

Our capital campaign is raising funds for several loving upgrades to the sanctuary, including the bathrooms. Kate sees her donation as an investment, “not just fixing the bathrooms and taking care of the building, but supporting ideals and values and a community that’s really doing good things in Springfield.”