The contents about MCC-related articles for the years 1980-1989 are linked to Independent Voices. “Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.”
If you click on any of the links below you will be directed to an article hosted on Independent Voices. We take no responsibility for the content found on this website, we claim no ownership of the materials, nor are we responsible for the reliability of their website or the accuracy of materials they have collected.
*Unless noted otherwise, all articles on this page were based in the United States and were published in English. You will likely need to resize and/or move the image(s) of a newspaper/magazine page(s) to fully read any given article.
Soul & Body by Rev. Nancy Wilson
Massachusetts – Rev. Nancy Wilson: “…I walked into my first Metropolitan Community Church service, in the little chapel at the Arlington Street Church (Unitarian) also on Boylston Street. Sitting with eleven or twelve other gay and lesbian people, I wept through Communion. Body and soul were united on Boylston Street in my twenty-first year when I simply walked through the looking glass to my new spiritual home. I felt naked and vulnerable in the presence of a God who was not ashamed to be called my God. I found out that embodied freedom was possible for me, a lesbian Christian.”
Atlanta's Metropolitan Community Church was broken into and vandalized
Georgia – Atlanta’s Metropolitan Community Church was broken into and vandalized three times in a ten day period late last spring.
Southern Women Fight Homophobic Laws
Louisiana – Linda, a pastor of a Metropolitan Community Church congregation in New Orleans, had seen the demoralizing effects of a law that had made her parishioners live in fear. Mary, a car mechanic and political activist from Alexandria, Louisiana, as a black lesbian had also seen how racism and homophobia were fueled by the law*s”existence: Both women joined a class action suit brought by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU of Louisiana. The suit is a constitutional challenge to the state’s sodomy law.
Gays Take Over DC
District of Columbia – The Metropolitan Community Church, which has large Gay and Lesbian congregations across the United States, was heavily represented by groups from as far away as California, Texas, and Hawaii.
Black, Out, & Proud
New York – Rev Renee McCoy: “I am a reverend, I was head of the Harlem Metropolitan Community Church in New York City until June ’86. I am the national director of National Council of Black Lesbians and Gays….It is important to me that Black lesbians and their issues are represented….”
MCC Sponsors Cuban refugees
Pennsylvania – Metropolitan Community Church is still trying to find people to accept a lesbian or gay Cuban into their homes, as well as to contribute cash and clothing toward the effort.
| Dignity conventioneers called to social action | Philadelphia Gay News | Pennsylvania |
| Gay Cuban refugees | Philadelphia Gay News | Pennsylania |
| Atlantic City Gay Pride Parade | Philadelphia Gay News | New Jersey |
| Third World, Lesbian and Gay Forces Unite at Blue’s Demonstration | WomaNews | New York |
| MCC in Portsmouth | Lesbian Connection | Viriginia |
| I do, I do | WomaNews, | New York |
| Feminists as Human Chauvinists | Sojourner | MCC |
| Toward Community: An Interview with Renee McCoy | WomaNews | New York |
| KKK Implicated in California Murders | Up and Coming | California |
| Metropolitian Community Church of Boston | Sojourner | Massachusetts |
| HIV-infected Support Group | Sojourner | Massachusetts |
In 1985 AIDS diagnoses increased by 89% from the previous year. It was a full-fledged epidemic fueled by ignorance and fear. MCC Pastor Steve Pieters, an AIDS activist and patient, agreed to an interview with famed televangelist Tammy Faye Messner (then Bakker) who interviewed Pieters for a segment on her show, Tammy’s House Party, which aired to millions of evangelical Christians throughout the United States. Click on the image above to start the video.
