Queer-Friendly Church Celebrates 50th Anniversary

It took five years of marriage to a woman and a suicide attempt for 28-year-old Reverend Troy D. Perry to reconcile his faith and his identity as a gay man.

“The Lord was dealing with me,” Perry says. “My previous church taught that you couldn’t be both Christian and gay. After a suicide attempt, while I was arguing with God that he couldn’t love me, God spoke to me in a still, small voice in the mind’s ear: ‘Don’t tell me what I can do. I love you, Troy, and I don’t have any stepsons or stepdaughters. Reread my Word.’ And reread God’s word I did.”

That moment of spiritual reckoning inspired Perry to start his own church, one that would love and accept everyone.

On October 6, 1968, a group of 12 individuals collected in Perry’s California living room for the first worship service of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). Little did Perry know that this small gathering would mark a historic moment for the LGBTQ community, and the beginning of his journey as a Christian figurehead and gay-rights activist.

Today, that small gathering of 12 has blossomed into the largest Christian organization dedicated to outreach to queer individuals—the Universal Fellowship of the Metropolitan Community Churches, or UFMCC. UFMCC has 233 churches in over 40 countries, and “at our foundation, MCC brings to bear the existence and complimentary relationship of sexuality and spirituality,” the website states. Although founded with LGBTQ-specific issues in mind, MCC strives to be a place of welcoming love and community to all and supports civil and human rights movements that address all forms of oppression.

Denver’s own branch of the MCC, the MCC of the Rockies (MCCR) will be celebrating its 50-year anniversary on September 22. James-Evan Ortiz, Director of Outreach and Community Development and worship team lead, has been attending the church since the early 1990s, and it’s the support and innovation of the congregation that Ortiz loves the most.

“With our people, if you give them ideas, they will oftentimes run with it,” Ortiz says. “That’s how our clothing ministry got started. We suggested that we get some clothes for some people back in October. But the people experiencing homelessness needed jackets and coats and things like that. So I asked a couple of people to coordinate that, and now about 103 items every Monday are going out the door.” Besides the clothing ministry, MCCR also has a volunteer-run, on-site food pantry that serves about a hundred people.

MCCR has faithfully continued Perry’s mission to uplift the LGBTQ community for 50 years. “We do communion every week in our services,” Ortiz says. “(Communion) was one of the things that many of the churches withheld from the LGBTQ community and used as a hammering board against the LGBTQ community.”

The church also hosts Zoom events for a diverse range of individuals. Called “kinship gatherings,” these Zoom calls are spaces specifically created for marginalized groups. A brief glance at the church’s Facebook page shows five meetings already planned for September: Trans, Latinx, BIPOC, API, and PAD kinship gatherings.

“There’s the realization that churches have been traumatizing and holding people down,” Ortiz says. “So when we can reach out to members of the LGBTQ community and let them know that they are loved, and that they have a place to come if they want to explore spirituality. We do not specifically say that we have all of the answers, but we are here to sit down and work through the questions if you want to do that.”

MCCR will be celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a free community event featuring a special performance by the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus, guest speakers, a silent auction, and food and drink. The festivities start at 7 p.m. on September 22 at 980 Clarkson Street.

Photo courtesy of MCCR