The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) grew rapidly but not without difficulties. Perry's first congregation managed to buy a building, which volunteers renovated. The first service at MCC's Mother Church in Los Angeles was held in March 1971.

In the next few years, other congregations sought affiliations with the Los Angeles congregation. In 1972, twenty-three affiliated churches were organized as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, with Perry as moderator.

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The new denomination not only attracted adherents, however; it also attracted the hatred of . In January 1973 the Mother Church was burned. The persons responsible were never apprehended. In subsequent years, seventeen other MCC sites would fell victim to arsonists.

A particularly devastating fire occurred in June 1973, when the Upstairs Lounge, a New Orleans gay bar that had once been the site of MCC services, was torched. The fire was the deadliest in the city's history. Among the thirty-two people killed were the New Orleans MCC's pastor, assistant pastor, and ten members of the congregation, which numbered only twenty-two at the time.

Most of the churches of New Orleans refused Perry's request to use their buildings for memorial services, but St. George's Episcopal and St. Mark's Methodist Churches made their premises available.

When Perry learned that news photographers had gathered outside St. Mark's, he offered mourners the option of leaving by a back way if they did not wish to be seen. He was gratified when all chose to go out through the front door.

Community Activism

From the very beginning, Perry has been a community activist. Perry's work for glbtq rights has taken many forms. In his early days, he campaigned for an end to police harassment in Los Angeles. He subsequently helped organize two marches on Washington, one in 1979 and another in 1987.

Among the aims of the 1987 march was to call on the Reagan administration to improve its woefully inadequate response to the AIDS crisis.

AIDS has been an important issue to the MCC, which has lost numerous members to the disease. The church has a longstanding AIDS ministry and has been a leader in establishing groups to support people with AIDS.

Holy Unions

Perry favors the legal recognition of same-sex partners. At an event held in conjunction with the 1987 march on Washington he blessed the unions of over two thousand couples. The Rite of Holy Union has been celebrated in the MCC from the earliest days of the church.

Perry himself has been in a committed relationship with Phillip DeBlieck since 1985. After Canada announced that it was no longer restricting marriage to heterosexual couples, Perry and DeBlieck traveled to Toronto, where they were married on July 16, 2003 in a joyful ceremony at the local Metropolitan Community Church. (Perry's previous partner, Greg Cutts, died in 1983 from an adverse reaction between a prescription medication and an over-the-counter remedy.)

Social Justice and Recognition

Perry has been an active and visible worker for social justice, vigorously campaigning against homophobic laws throughout the United States. He has also testified before Congress on the subject of gays in the military.

President Jimmy Carter invited him to the White House to take part in a discussion of the civil rights of glbtq people in 1973. During the Clinton administration he participated in the White House Conference on AIDS (1993) and the White House Conference on Hate Crimes (1997). Perry was also among one hundred national spiritual leaders honored by Clinton at a 1997 White House event.

His Testimony

Perry has written and contributed to a number of books, including the autobiographical works The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay (1972) and Don't Be Afraid Anymore (1990). With Thomas L. P. Swicegood he co-authored Profiles in Gay & Lesbian Courage (1991), which presents the lives and work of such leaders as Harry Hay, Harvey Milk, Leonard Matlovich, and Barbara Gittings.

Speaking of the renewal of his faith after his suicide attempt, Perry described the great joy in his heart when he realized that his sexual orientation did not affect God's love for him. He has devoted his life and his considerable energy to sharing this message of hope.

His ideals and vision are reflected in his church's statement: "The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches is a Christian Church founded in and reaching beyond the Gay and Lesbian communities. We embody and proclaim Christian salvation and liberation, Christian inclusivity and community, and Christian social action and justice. We serve among those seeking the integration of their spirituality and sexuality."

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.

The glbtq history of Los Angeles, the U.S.'s second largest metropolis, is replete with cultural, social, and political firsts.

Marches on Washington in support of the rights of glbtq people have been a significant part of the modern movement for equality.

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.

One of America's most colorful cities, New Orleans boasts a rich tradition for glbtq people and is both a popular travel destination for gay men and lesbians and the home of a diverse glbtq community.

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.

Today's glbtq spirituality movements must be seen as part of a long history in which gender-special people were considered sacred to their tribe or family because of their obvious spiritual gifts.

American artist Don Bachardy, the long-time companion of novelist Christopher Isherwood, has achieved renown in his own right for his nudes and celebrity portraits, which honestly convey the personalities of his sitters.

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.

A pioneer in the American gay rights movement, Barbara Gittings worked tirelessly within the American Library Association to make material with glbtq content more accessible to the reading public.

Since coming out publicly in 1991, after a homophobic issue of a student publication at Harvard University led to tension on campus, the Reverend Peter Gomes has lent his eloquent voice to the cause of equality for glbtq people.

Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, the Reverend Doctor Brent Hawkes has worked with fervor and dedication to secure equal rights for glbtq Canadians.

Los Angeles activist Morris Kight, a determined and courageous--if sometimes eccentric--fighter for glbtq rights, worked for decades in the struggle for equality.

A pioneer in the American gay rights movement and in glbtq studies, W. Dorr Legg won a landmark Supreme Court decision establishing the right to send homosexual content through the U.S. mail.

By challenging the United States Air Force's ban and gay and lesbian service members, Leonard P. Matlovich, Jr. became one of the glbtq community's most visible activists in the 1970s.

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States, was assassinated in San Francisco's City Hall, making him the American gay liberation movement's most visible martyr.

Edward Sagarin, writing as Donald Webster Cory, produced important books that prepared the stage for the gay liberation movement, but under his own name he later attacked the very movement he inspired.

An early leader in the struggle for glbtq rights, Los Angeles activist Don Slater was sometimes at odds with others in the movement but never wavered in his devotion to the cause.