“Growing with Love: Our Story.”

Join us at UUYO as we welcome special guests Ashlee Stevens and Sean Brown who will share with us their story of growing with love as we recognize Transgender Day of Visibility.

Ashlee Stevens and Sean Brown: Guest Speakers

Kathleen Hogue: Director of Religious Exploration

Lindsay Sinkovich: Worship Associate

Cynthia Smotzer, Tom, Smotzer, Elle La Forge, and Robert Landsman: Musicians

Guest Speaker’s Bios:

Ashlee’s  Stevens:

Ashlee (she/her) is a 31 year old cisgender woman from New Castle, PA. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor & Nationally Certified Counselor and has practiced as a mental health therapist since 2015. She currently works at a behavioral health inpatient hospital in Morgantown, WV where she resides with her spouse of 3 years, Sean. Ashlee loves her cat Bernie, Mountaineer sports, working out with her spouse and friends at Orange Theory Fitness, watching movies and listening to music. She has been through many life experiences that have shaped her into who she is today but her spouse coming out as a trans woman before their first wedding anniversary is the biggest one. She is so proud of who she is and who her spouse is and is excited to share their story with you.

Sean Brown:

Sean (she/they) is a bisexual trans woman from New Wilmington, PA. Sean is a chemical engineer and doctoral student who works on catalysis and material science. Sean worked in manufacturing and the energy industry for four years prior to starting their PhD at WVU in 2018. Since around their early teens, Sean knew something was different, and identified, in secret with the label “trans.” Sean and Ashlee met in 2011, right after Sean’s last major gender crisis. They dated for 7 years until a traditional marriage in the Catholic Church. The feelings of guilt about Sean’s identity grew until it was no longer possible to maintain a lie and Sean came out to Ashlee at dinner in August, not so coincidentally, after visiting NYC’s world pride 2019 event and Ginger’s, a famous lesbian bar in Brooklyn. Sean enjoys science, hiking, gardening, photography, and making music with guitars and synthesizers.