In the Pride issue of the Advocate recently there is a wonderful recollection of the first Pride March in Los Angeles by Reverend Troy Perry ( http://www.advocate.com/currentstory1_w.asp?id=45248 ). As founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, the largest, oldest, and most well-known LGBT church, Rev. Perry has been an activist in the LGBT community for the past 38 years.
Reverend Perry's inspirational story is one with which many LGBT youths can identify. Up until the age of 12 Rev. Perry had a fairly happy childhood. Unfortunately this all ended when his father passed away and his mother remarried. But unlike most LGBTQ youths, Rev. Perry's story took an even worse turn as his new stepfather was physically abusive individual, both to his mom and Troy, and Rev. Perry was even raped by one of his stepfather's friends. Despite these tragedies, Rev. Perry continued to pursue his faith, and became licensed to preach in the Baptist Church by the age of 15.
The next few years found Rev. Perry struggling with his feelings for men. At the age of 18, on the advice of his pastor, rev. Perry wed the pastor's daughter in an attempt to overcome his homosexuality. Like many men coming of age in those times (pre-Stonewall America), living a gay life was simply not an option and the pressure towards hetero-conformity was and still is immensely great.
Reverend Perry found marriage did not change his homosexual feelings. He was excommunicated from his church after church officials learned of a consensual sexual relationship he had with a man.
Moving his family to L.A., Rev. Perry began preaching at another Pentecostal Denomination, the Church of God of Prophecy. This time, however, he decided to live openly and bravely came out as a gay man both to his congregation and his family. History regrettably repeated itself and he was dismissed from his job again. This time, his wife left him and took their two young sons with her.
Though devastated, the reverent worked hard to rebuild his life and eventually found love with a young man. But the man abruptly ended the relationship, sending Rev. Perry's life into chaos yet again. He attempted suicide but was discovered by friends who saved him by rushing him to the emergency room.
At the end of this ordeal, Reverend Perry felt called to God again, and this time he was being asked to start a church that ministered to the LGBTQ community. The church began in 1968, a year before the Stonewall Rebellion and its membership originally came as a result of an advertisement in the Advocate.
The church has since grown exponentially from its humble beginnings . Reverend Perry has since also done work organizing LGBTQ marches, AIDS causes, etc. and he was one of the Grand Marshals of this year's LGBTQ Pride March in NYC.
Want to know more on this story? For the full story on the formation of the church and Rev. Troy Perry, please visit the following links:
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/perry_t.html
http://www.mccchurch.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_Us&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=662
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Perry
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