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QUEER HISTORY
What is the history of the Metropolitan Community Church?
Liz Highleyman | September 23, 2005
Because they have often experienced homophobia in their religions of origin, LGBT people have formed lesbian and gay groups within specific denominations, as well as an entirely new LGBT religious organization, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC).
MCC was founded by the Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, a defrocked Pentecostal minister. In the early 1960s, he came out as gay, leading to a divorce from his wife and dismissal from the ministry. After having attempted suicide following a failed love affair with a man, Perry realized that God loved him as he was, and felt called to start a new church to serve the gay community.
The first MCC service, held in the living room of Perry's suburban Los Angeles home on Oct. 6, 1968, drew 12 attendees. The congregation grew rapidly, first moving to a theater in Hollywood, then buying and refurbishing a dilapidated building. Soon, MCC congregations began to spring up in other cities. In 1972, two dozen affiliates were formally organized as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. The fellowship has since grown to nearly 300 congregations - comprising some 43,000 members - in 48 states and more than 20 countries.
Not everyone was happy about the new church's success. In 1973, the Los Angeles congregation's recently dedicated building was burned down, the first of some 20 arsons and fire-bombings at MCC churches. Later that same year, a fire at a New Orleans gay bar used for MCC services claimed the lives of 32 people, including the pastor and nearly half the congregation.
Perry always intended that MCC should be an ecumenical Christian church. Drawing upon Pentecostal, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and other mainline Protestant traditions, MCC retains many tenets of Christian doctrine, but promotes a reading of the Bible that accepts gay people. "Jesus never once mentioned or condemned homosexuality," wrote Perry. "Jesus spent a lot of time talking about love - and that's something that's missing in both the rhetoric and actions of antigay religious groups."
Since the church's founding, MCC clergy and lay members have taken an active role in the LGBT civil rights movement. The original MCC was born in the midst of a campaign of police harassment of gay bars in Los Angeles. In 1981, MCC Toronto's pastor, the Rev. Brent Hawkes, held a month-long fast to protest that city's raids on gay bathhouses, and in 1987 Perry was among the LGBT leaders arrested during a mass civil disobedience outside the Supreme Court to protest the _Bowers vs. Hardwick_ sodomy ruling. MCC has also played a key role in the ongoing struggle for same-sex marriage. Perry conducted MCC's first same-sex union ceremony just months after the church's first meeting, and in 1970 filed the first-ever lawsuit demanding that the state of California recognize same-sex marriages.
When Perry founded MCC, he expected that mainline churches would change their teachings about homosexuality, and that gay people would then "go home" to their own denominations. Instead, while debate still rages within several denominations over issues such as the blessing of same-sex unions and the role of LGBT clergy, MCC continues to provide a welcoming spiritual home for thousands of LGBT people throughout the world.
Further Reading
Perry, Troy. 1972, 1987. The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay (Liberty Press).
Perry, Troy, and Thomas Swicegood. 1990. Don't Be Afraid Anymore: The Story of Reverend Troy Perry and the Metropolitan Community Churches (St. Martin's).
Liz Highleyman is a freelance writer and editor who has written widely on health, sexuality, and politics.
The MCC in South Africa
The Metropolitan Community Churches are on a bold mission to transform hearts, lives and history. We are a movement that faithfully proclaims God’s inclusive love for all people and proudly bears witness to the holy integration of spirituality and sexuality.
MCC’s core values are:
Inclusion – resisting exclusion through love and proclaiming that everyone is included in the family of God and are welcome at God’s table.
Community – offering a safe and open community, committed to doing the work that God has called us to do
Spiritual Transformation – providing a message of liberation from oppressive religious environments, so that when people experience God through the life and ministry of Christ, lives are transformed
Social Action – we are committed to resisting structures that oppress people and to stand with those who suffer under oppressive systems, being guided by our commitment to Global Human Rights
There are currently four MCC congregations in South Africa:
Good Hope MCC, Cape Town
Email address: welcome@goodhopemcc.org
Website: www.goodhopemcc.org
Pastor: vacant
Secretary: Ms Liesl Theron
Tel: +27 (0)8332 07691 Email: liesltheron@webmail.co.za
Meeting Location: Zonnebloem College Chapel, Zonnebloem, District Six, Cape Town
Worship Times: Sunday 6.00pm
Office: 111 Chamberlain Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
Word of Life MCC, Durban
Pastor: Pastor: Rev M S Funeka Tel: +27 (0)7223 51414
Assistant Pastor/Secretary: Pastor Z Zungu Tel: +27 (0)7347 27594
Meeting Location: Christian High School, 50 Sydney Road, Durban
Worship Times: Sunday: Intercessions 12.30pm, Worship 1.00pm
Hope and Unity MCC, Johannesburg
Pastor: Pastor: Rev Nokuthula Dhladhla Tel: +27 (0)1148 44871 Email: revnokuthula@mailbox.co.za
Director of Administration: Rev Paul Mokgethi Tel: +27 (0)1148 28024 Email: limpopo@global.co.za
Meeting Location: Christ Church, 1 Park Drive, Mayfair, Johannesburg
Worship Times: Sunday: Prayers 10.00am, Worship 11.00am
Glorious Light MCC, Pretoria
Email address: mccpta@mweb.co.za
Pastor: Janine Preesman Tel: +27 (0)82 889 1493
Secretary: Ms Retha Theron Tel: +27 (0)84 549 7567
Meeting Location:Leyds Street Congregational Church, Leyds Street, Arcadia, Pretoria
Worship Times: Sunday 6.00pm
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