Houses of worship may not be the first places that come to mind when thinking about institutions that uplifted lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, as many LGBTQ individuals across the nation and the world have faced discrimination as a result of the policies of organized religions. Although discrimination against this community has not been extinguished from religious institutions, an increasing number of religious groups in the United States have taken firm steps towards welcoming and advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

According to Ken Lustbader, the co-founder of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and former director of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Program, "pre- and post-Stonewall, many religious leaders and congregations, often in opposition to religious doctrine, supported the use of their historic religious properties as safe spaces for the LGBTQ community.” At the time, spaces such as sanctuaries, parish halls, and other auxiliary religious buildings often served as the only available “incubator spaces for political, social, religious, and artistic organizations.”

Many participating congregations in the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation that offers financial support and technical assistance to community-serving historic houses of worship, have been at the forefront of championing LGBTQ inclusion and rights over the past fifty years. The following five National Fund-supported churches illuminate how, as Lustbader emphasized, “the use of these sacred places is linked to the history of LGBTQ activism and culture.”

Trinity + St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (San Francisco, California)

Trinity + St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, consisting of two historic congregations which merged in 2012, is the oldest Episcopal church on the Pacific Coast and has served as a spiritual home for LGBTQ individuals since the late 1970s. In 1976, the Episcopal Church officially became fully inclusive, open, and welcoming of the LGBTQ community.

Consequently, Trinity attracted LGBTQ individuals who had been excluded from most churches in San Francisco, which had one of the highest populations of LGBTQ people in the country. In 1985, activist Ruth Brinker founded Project Open Hand, a nonprofit which delivered hot meals to people with AIDS, in Trinity’s kitchen. At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the congregation openly welcomed and ministered to people with HIV/AIDS.

Named after lesbian poet and activist Audre Lorde, this organization was founded by and created as a center for LGBTQ people of color who mainstream LGBTQ organizations had excluded. From the parish house, ALP has organized around issues of transgender rights, women’s leadership, and anti-violence and uplifted additional LGBTQ organizations supporting Arab, Asian, Latinx, and Black communities.

Calvary United Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Calvary United Methodist Church (UMC) was the sixth UMC church nationwide to oppose the anti-LGBTQ stance of the denomination at large, becoming a Reconciling Ministry in 1985. The UMC remains strongly divided over issues of LGBTQ inclusion due to exclusionary language in its book of law, and Reconciling Ministries call for the full inclusion of, and intersectional justice for, LGBTQ people. Calvary hosts events for and sponsors denominational legislation in support of the LGBTQ community.

Through the work of the affiliated nonprofit Calvary Center for Culture and Community, the congregation shares space with the Curio Theatre Company. Curio has produced plays at Calvary that explore issues of gender and sexuality, including a lesbian interpretation of Romeo & Juliet in 2013. The company also created the play The Matter of Frank Schaefer based on the story of a Methodist priest who the denomination tried and punished in 2013 for officiating the same-sex wedding of his son six years earlier.

Arch Street United Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

The United Methodist Church’s official refusal to recognize or conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies has been contested prominently at Arch Street UMC, another Reconciling Ministry located a short drive away from Calvary. Arch Street became the public face of opposition against the UMC’s decision to try, and later suspend, The Reverend Frank Schaefer for officiating a same-sex wedding.

In November 2013, over thirty UMC ministers gathered at Arch Street to stand in solidarity with Reverend Schaefer and to officiate the wedding of long-time members Richard Kevin Taylor and William Robert Gatewood. These ministers risked losing their jobs, healthcare, and positions in their church for this action, which Arch Street’s The Reverend Robin Hynicka described in The Philadelphia Inquirer as a statement, movement, and celebration of love.

Arch Street has continued supporting LGBTQ people who have been excluded from the UMC and other religious denominations. In 2015, the congregation welcomed the Equally Blessed Coalition, a Roman Catholic organization for LGBTQ inclusion, for services and to serve a communal meal to the hungry after its members had been refused entry to a meeting visited by Pope Francis. The congregation has also become a presence at Philadelphia’s Pride parade and provides practice space to the Philadelphia Freedom Band, which consists of volunteer LGBTQ musicians.