The Troy Perry Awards
honor LGBTQ+ young people  & community leaders
who are living & speaking their truth.
 "We are not afraid anymore."

Troy Perry Awards
Conquering Fear through Love

The Troy Perry Awards honor fearless LGBTQ+ young people & community leaders who are making an impact through social & spiritual activism.

​Rev. Troy Perry is a renowned international LGBTQ+ human rights activist, a pioneer in social equality, legal protection and spiritual justice for LGBTQ+ people.  Troy conceived the world's first Gay Pride Parade and co-founded the Christopher Street West organization to launch the first LA PRIDE event.  

​He is perhaps best known as the founder of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), the first church to recognize the spiritual needs of the gay community which sparked a worldwide movement.  From US presidential advisor to outspoken advocate, he has been on the front lines leading the charge for equal rights and protections for gay men and lesbians the world over, as well as providing a place for all people, gay and straight, to worship side by side.

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 "We're not afraid anymore."
- Rev. Troy Perry

This photo (above) was taken in 1969 at demonstration and march Rev. Troy Perry led from Hollywood High School to the local Los Angeles Police Station. (Video Below)

About Troy

​“I believe we can change the world...  
So, for me, my legacy, I hope, will be inside and outside of my community...  
He was faithful and he was fearless."
Troy Perry, 2007

Full filmed news report by producer Pat Rocco at the 1969 March (above)
​Watch as a new chant is coined...
"We're Gay and We're Proud"

In this video of a nighttime picket down Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, producer Pat Rocco speaks with Rev. Troy Perry and several protestors, including Rand Schrader (future Gay Rights Activist and L.A. Municipal Court Judge) and men from the Gay Liberation Front and the United States Mission.   At the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Las Palmas, Pat Rocco interviews protestors Cliff Letieri and Al Lewis.  On Vine Street, under the Huntington Harper Theater (now The Montalban Theater), Rocco again speaks to Rev. Perry, attorney Walter Culpepper, and Jim Kepner, as well interviews passers-by regarding gay rights.

* This video is provided to Rainbow Advocacy courtesy of producer Pat Rocco and Bizarre Productions through UCLA Television Archives.  Copyright ©​ 1969 Bizarre Productions. All rights reserved.

Speaking OUT Against Fear

It was March 1969.  We began by picketing against an injustice which involved a gay man's loss of employment.

​One of our fellows holding a sign was so frightened that his hands practically had to be pried loose from his stick after walking for an hour on the picket line.

​Conditioning ourselves against fear was an important aspect of the beginning of lesbian and gay emancipation.

The next time we demonstrated, we were bolder.  My favorite picket sign read:
"WE'RE NOT AFRAID ANYMORE!"  

That slogan has been with us ever since and the words, which at first were written primarily to bolster our own courage, today are a statement of fact.  

​Not only do they apply to those of us who are gay, but also to a percentage of friends, church members, and clergy who are not homosexual.

- From the book "Don't Be Afraid Anymore" - Troy Perry

Destruction of MCC Mother Church Building  
(pictured here and above)

Rev. Troy Perry's outspoken voice for the LGBT community has ​placed him on the front lines over several decades, many Metropolitan Community Church buildings have been targeted for destruction, including the 1973 arson attack on the founding MCC church building in Los Angeles (Rev. Perry in the sanctuary pictured above)

My Uncle Roy had a saying that "A coward dies a thousand deaths - a brave man (or woman) dies only once!"  
​The essence of those words has been the backbone of Metropolitan Community Church ever since its inception. - Rev. Troy Perry