LRY (Liberal Religious Youth)

Bozian, Robin - First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati, Ohio youth group, OVF (Ohio Valley Federation) 1966-1970.
"In the late 60's, the Vietnam war and civil rights were issues of the day. The public high school was not a place of huge discussion - football, dances, who was wearing what and dating whom - I enjoyed that too but wanted more. LRY was the one place where I could go, be myself, talk about anything and not worry about if I was cool or not. It really strengthened me as an individual and along with the influence of my parents, is probably why I am still a legal services lawyer 36 years later. That community sense just never died." Read full.
Daniel, Karen - LRY (Liberal Religious Youth), Fairfax (VA) Unitarian Church 1966-67 and Annapolis (MD) 1967-68.
"When we moved to Severna Park MD for my senior year, I continued my involvement with the anti-war movement to the point that after they showed The Green Berets at an assembly I demanded of the principal that he let me show a movie on the other side--equal time. He said ok. I got a really good documentary film from the Quakers about the history of the whole Vietnam mess, and it was actually shown in a whole school assembly. I don't think I could have done that without LRY, even though I wasn't really involved with LRY at that point." Read full.
Anonymous "J" - "1963 to 1968ish".
"UU provided, for me, an opportunity to legitimize, encourage and act on issues..." Read full.
Livingston, Catherine - Houston, Texas, First Church LRY, 1968-1971.
"My generation had a lot going on. In my high school, I organized a strike so the girls could wear pants on cold days. Students were accused of being members of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), a group that was considered radical at the time. We got sent home from school for wearing black armbands for those who hought and died in the Vietnam War. There were lots of student issues that schools had to confront, and our student bodies generally had a vocal liberal anti-war contingent in them. We sang free love and anti-war songs at sit-ins and conferences, and generally felt very bonded to each other because we all felt the same way about these issues. Women’s lib was getting started, and the girls were very clear that things weren’t equal when they should be. All of this was part of LRY in one way or another. We were proud that we didn’t want the world of our elders." Read full.
Lotz, Sandy (now Alexandra Furnari) - First Unitarian Church of Miami, Florida, 60-65.
"...by the time I was in 10th grade we had around 20-25 members and were very active, helping to form a south Florida regional group as well as participating in state conferences, I also went to Blue Ridge, a national conference in Minn., and an international conference which included LRY and SRL members in Scotland in 1965. I have a fair amount of photos of the Europeans and U.S. participants. I think the local and going to conferences complemented each other. We did a lot of service projects in our local community, and gained lots of ideas at conferences." Read full.
McHenry, Chuckie - UCMC, Cedar Lane Church, Bethesda MD, LRY, Greater Washington Federtaion, 61-66.
"The History of UU youth empowerment was a tough lesson. My experiences were positive. In talking with younger LRYers that I knew It had progressed to "We don't need no stinkin' adults-this is our group" It was a place to score weed, Seeing if you could get laid at every Con.This may not have been country wide, but it was happening. So they eliminated LRY. YRUU was created with many rules, not all were well defined. Why do the adults have to run everything? How can our kids grow into responsible adults." Read full.