University Presbyterian Church has joined More Light Presbyterians, an organization that supports the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

While the Presbyterian Church (USA) welcomes gays and lesbians as members, the denomination has effectively barred their ordination as ministers, elders and deacons since an amendment known as Amendment B was adopted by the General Assembly, the denomination's governing body, in 1997. More Light Presbyterians are individual members and congregations who "work for the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."

UPC, a church of 75 members located on the edge of the University of Alabama campus, is the first congregation in Alabama to join More Light Presbyterians. The church will celebrate its affiliation with More Light at a worship service and reception on Sunday, April 8.

Although it has been a campus ministry and student center since its inception in 1952, UPC was chartered as a church in 1966, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. During that time, UPC was one of the few places in Tuscaloosa where people of all races could worship together and its facility was opened to speakers and activist groups who were denied meeting space elsewhere in the community.

UPC's mission statement reflects its continuing commitment to hospitality, stating, in part: