In 1980, the first glbtq-affirming Apostolic organization was started in Schenectady, N. Y. Founded by William H. Carey, this group was called the National Gay Pentecostal Alliance.

NGPA opened its first local church in Omaha, Nebraska in 1981, and held its first ordination service in August of that year. The first three ministers were Carey, E. Samuel Stafford, and Frances Cervantes.

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Over the next twenty years, churches were opened in various cities around the United States, and churches in Nigeria and Ukraine joined the movement.

Early in the twenty-first century, NGPA changed its name to Apostolic Restoration Mission. While still an affirming organization, they felt the need to reach out more to the straight community, believing that sexual orientation and gender identity should be non-issues in the church.

During the last decade of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, other affirming Apostolic organizations were founded. These include Reconciling Pentecostals International (headquartered in LaPorte, Indiana, with 3 affiliated churches and 4 unaffiliated churches with RPI pastors); the Global Alliance of Affirming Apostolic Pentecostals (headquartered in Thonotassa, Florida, with 10 churches in the United States, and others in Canada, Australia, and Uganda); and the Affirming Pentecostal Church (headquartered in Indianapolis).

These organizations are committed to the belief, as formulated by the Affirming Pentecostal Church, that "gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation are irrelevant to our relationship with God. In God's eyes, both in Christ's body and in Heaven, there is neither male nor female. We believe that God is no respecter of persons in the forming of marriages. We believe that God's ideal for sexual expression is that it be only between two people, both of lawful age, both fully consenting, unrelated, and united by love in partnership."

The original organization, Apostolic Restoration Mission, merged with the Global Alliance of Affirming Apostolic Pentecostals. Rev. Carey, however, did not remain with that organization, and instead helped to found the Affirming Pentecostal Church.

Affirming Pentecostal Church

As of 2011, the Affirming Pentecostal Church, which was founded on December 5, 2010, in Indianapolis, is the largest LGBT-affirming Apostolic denomination in the world, with 21 churches and several missions in the United States, West Africa, Wales, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Albania.

Rev. Rafael DeJesus serves as Senior Bishop, while Rev. Kevin Konkle and Rev. Nate Morales serve as Associate Bishops. Temporal authority, however, is vested in the General Board.

The church holds four conferences a year and sponsors a Bible college, the Apostolic Institute of Ministry. This institution exists for the purpose of providing APC ministers and student ministers with a quality education, offering classes in theology, history, eschatology, church administration, and more. In addition, the school offers teaching seminars at APC churches as needed.

The Affirming Pentecostal Church prides itself on being open to everyone. Its anti-discrimination policy includes numerous categories, most notably, race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The following U.S. congregations are affiliated with the Affirming Pentecostal Church: True Love Apostolic Church, Indianapolis; Family Worship Center Affirming Pentecostal Church, South Bend, Ind.; Refuge of Hope Church, Penndel, Pa.; Nehemiah Tabernacle, Philadelphia; Refuge of Hope Church, Neptune, N. J.; High Praises International Ministries, Chicago; Abundant Life Tabernacle, Rockford, Ill.; Hope of the Rockies Affirming Pentecostal Church, Palmer Lake, Colo.; Open Door Community Church, Las Vegas; True Love Church, Orlando; Grace For All Church, Terre Haute; Point of Grace Apostolic Church, Charleston, W. V.; Emmanuel Apostolic Temple, Ferndale, Mich; Gulf Coast Worship Center, New Orleans; and All Nations Assembly, Memphis.

Evangelical Christians, who tend to be fundamentalists and socially conservative, have not been welcoming to glbtq people.

Spurred by the gay liberation movement of the late 1960s, a number of religious groups--including specifically gay-oriented churches and synagogues--have been formed to address the needs of gay and lesbian believers.

Lutheranism is riven into numerous denominations, which vary widely in their attitudes toward homosexuality and in their acceptance of gay men and lesbians as full participants in church life.

The Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian denomination founded to minister to the glbtq community, has grown into a worldwide ministry with over 40,000 members in 18 countries.

Reparative therapy is a dangerously misguided attempt, supported by homophobic religious organizations, to change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.

The Southern Baptists have become the most intolerant of the major American religious denominations, especially (but not exclusively) for their opposition to equal rights for gay men and lesbians.

The Unitarian Universalist church in the United States has been outspoken in support of human rights--including, since 1970, those of the glbtq community.

The United Church of Canada has been instrumental in the increased acceptance of glbtq rights, including same-sex marriage, in Canada.

The United Church of Christ has attempted to make its churches a "place of extravagant welcome" for glbtq people.

Carl Bean, founder of Unity Fellowship Church, gave up a promising entertainment career to pursue his vocation as a clergyman to minister to glbtq Christians of color.

Troy Perry is the founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Protestant denomination devoted to ministering to the spiritual needs of glbtq people.

Mel White spent over thirty years serving the Evangelical Christian community; after struggling with his homosexuality for many years, he broke his ties with anti-gay religious leaders and became a glbtq activist.