In 1968, a year before New York's Stonewall Riots, a series of most unlikely events in Southern California resulted in the birth of the world's first church group with a primary, positive ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons.

Those events, a failed relationship, an attempted suicide, a reconnection with God, an unexpected prophecy, and the birth of a dream led to MCC's first worship service: a gathering of 12 people in Rev. Troy Perry's living room in Huntington Park, California on October 6, 1968.

That first worship service in a Los Angeles suburb in 1968 launched the international movement of Metropolitan Community Churches, which today has grown to 43,000 members and adherents in almost 300 congregations in 22 countries. During the past 36 years, MCC's prophetic witness has forever changed the face of Christianity.

MCC has been at the vanguard of civil and human rights movements and addresses the important issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and other forms of oppression.

More than fifty percent (50.5%) of MCC clergy are women, a higher percentage than any other Christian denomination.

MCC holds observer status in the World Council of Churches, participates in the programs of the National Council of Churches

MCC clergy bless same-sex couples with Marriage and Holy Union ceremonies. MCC clergy perform more than 6,000 same-sex weddings annually.

MCC Moderator, Reverend Troy D. Perry, is an internationally recognized human rights activist and has received honors from many human rights organizations, including honorary doctorates from Episcopal Divinity School, Samaritan College and Sierra University along with awards from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, the Lazarus Project, and the Gay and Lesbian Press Association. Reverend Perry attended the first ever White House meeting of gay and lesbian leaders during the Carter presidency, was the first openly gay member of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and was appointed as a delegate to the White House Conference On Hate Crimes by President Bill Clinton.