Through the Years: "Rolling the Stone Away" in Context
The timeline on this page supplements the "Through the Years" history slideshow video presented at the Rolling the Stone Away conference. Other historical timelines, such as the ones developed for the Currents of Love and Justice exhibit at Rolling the Stone Away, can be found here.
October 6, 1968: Troy Perry holds the first Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) gathering in his living room in Huntington, California. The church takes an open and affirming stance toward LGBTQ identities and relationships, and had a specific outreach mission focused on the LGBTQ community—it even takes out ads in The Advocate to advertise. By 1969, the church's congregation has grown beyond the bounds of Perry's living room; today, it has expanded to 222 congregations worldwide.
Early 1969: Father Patrick X. Nidorf founds DignityUSA, an open and affirming ministry for gay and lesbian Roman Catholics. The organization today is known as "DignityUSA: Catholics Committed to LGBTQIA Equality." For a complete chronology of Dignity's rich history, see the DignityUSA timeline.
1975: The United Methodist Gay Caucus is formed in response to "the denomination's adopted stance on homosexuality as developed in the Social Principles of the 1972 General Conference. Plans were made to have a presence at the 1976 General Conference in Portland, Oregon. That General Conference continued the policies put in place in 1972." (Sourced from the United Methodist Church General Commission on Archives and History collection finding aid.)
Spring, 1978: The United Methodist Gay Caucus renames itself "Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian/Gay Concerns." In the Fall of that year Affirmation adopted a plan to support two staff people to travel the church until the 1980 General Conference. The first two staff, Peggy Harmon and Michael Collins traveled around the country through those months. Because of their efforts several local Affirmation groups started across the country. (Sourced from the United Methodist Church General Commission on Archives and History collection finding aid.)
1982: The Reconciling Ministries Network evolves out of United Methodist Church Affirmation. "'Discussion about the need for 'reconciliation' between The United Methodist Church and lesbians/gay men at a November 1982 meeting of Affirmation’s General Conference Task Force inspires the name 'Reconciling Churches.' This is modified to 'Reconciling Congregations' in order to clearly emphasize that this will be a local church network." D.J. Porter, Perry Wiggins, and future RTSA planning team member and LGBTQ-RAN coordinator Mark Bowman agree to develop "a program in which local churches will declare their support for the concerns of lesbians and gay men." (Quotes sourced from the Reconciling Ministries Network "History of the Movement" site. Read more here.)
1987-1990: while at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, (1987-1990) Jimmy Creech helps to create the Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality.
1993: The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists is formed.
1998: first Soulforce Board of Directors Convening occurs.
2000: Jimmy Creech becomes chairperson of the Board of Directors of Soulforce, Inc.
2005: Rev. Nancy Wilson is elected to become a Moderator of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). She is only the second person, and the first woman, to serve in that role since the founding of Metropolitan Community Churches in 1968.
