The UUA Interdependence value in the 2024 historic revised Article II calls for, among other actions, protecting all beings from exploitation. It's the revised Article II value most directly associated with UUAM. At its November 2024 meeting, the UUAM Board asked whether combining that value with our legally protected religious freedoms will allow us to better protect animals, through specific actions such as students asking for exemption from animal dissections, military service members requesting vegan meals, and family businesses requesting exemptions from government regulations requiring them to use certain animal products. This article argues it does because the Interdependence value is substantially stronger and broader than UUA's earlier official commitments to animals. 

When the 2024 UUA General Assembly voted this past weekend to say “We covenant … to protect all beings from exploitation” in our faith’s central “Values and Covenant” statement, also known as Article II of the UUA Bylaws, it was truly a historic change—a dream come true, which I had not known if I would see achieved in my lifetime. But I want to make something clear: all UUAM supporters are welcome in this organization, whether they found their faith more recognizably described by Article II as it was written, or as it is now written.