A century ago, a church opened its doors in a white suburban neighborhood and began serving the area’s Model T driving denizens.
Perhaps if it had put down roots in another neighborhood, it might have remained a traditional church. But situated on Sunset Boulevard, on the cusp of Hollywood and what later became West Hollywood, the church created its own enduring tradition— that of serving marginalized people. That includes LGBT people, who make up more than 40 percent of West Hollywood’s population.
That church, founded as a Presbyterian congregation, is now West Hollywood United Church of Christ (UCC). This Sunday, Nov. 3, the church will culminate its multi-week 100th anniversary sermon series with a celebratory reception following the 11 a.m. service.
In its 100-year history, the church has reached out to the underserved and looked at the needs of its surrounding community, including immigrants and “hippies.” It was the church’s progressive attitude toward the LGBT community that led it to clash with, and to eventually leave, the Presbyterian denomination and to join UCC in May 2012. While most churches who split with the denomination did so because they had a more conservative stance on LGBT issues, the WeHo congregation was the first to leave because it felt that LGBT rights weren’t moving forward quickly enough.
According to Rev. Dan Smith, who has been the church’s minister since 1984, UCC’s commitment to equality for women and LGBT people makes it a great fit for his congregation.
“Their values are just where we are,” he said. “We’re able to be nurtured instead of having to constantly fight.”
Serving the Underserved
For decades, the WeHo church’s mission has been one of standing with marginalized communities.
During the 1960s, primarily white Hollywood saw a significant demographic shift as immigrants moved to the area. That was followed by a “white flight” to the San Fernando Valley. The Hollywood area became ground zero for cultural change, Smith said.
As a result, the church started an outreach program offering English classes and tutoring for high school-aged immigrants. The church’s commitment to racial diversity and equality also included engagement in the civil rights movement, Smith said.
Then, counter-culture, anti-war “hippie” types without a home began turning to the church for food (often supplied by partnering women’s organizations) and shelter. It’s hard to say exactly how many people lived at the church, Smith said— perhaps 30 or 40.
With its progressive credentials well-established, the church went on to blaze trails for LGBT Christians. Four years before the Stonewall rebellion, in an era when police still raided gay bars, the church established a gay men’s rap group in 1965.
“Historically, it’s amazing,” Smith said. “Here [at the church] was a really safe environment.”
The church also launched a separate service geared toward LGBT people. Ultimately it became a mostly LGBT congregation.
A Horrific Roller Coaster
Many Protestant denominations have had internal clashes over homosexuality, and Presbyterians are no exception. The congregation’s wish to hire an out pastor was not easy to fulfill. The Presbyterian denomination would not ordain openly LGBT people. However, because Smith was ordained before he came out as gay, he was able to take on the role.
Just months after Smith’s arrival at the church, a “horrific roller coaster” began. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which would would prove to be a defining era in the church’s history, claimed life after life. The WeHo church was one of just a few area religious institutions that ministered to those who were sick and to those who were terrified that they’d be next.
“Almost every gay man had reached the point of fatalism,” Smith said. “There seemed to be no way out.”
Not only were the ill and dying not embraced at many churches, but the religious right “went ballistic” about the idea that AIDS was divine punishment, Smith said. He believes that the “horrible meanness” directed at people with HIV/AIDS was one reason that young adults left many Christian churches in droves.
One consequence of the epidemic’s most devastating years was that many men came out to their families — as both gay and as dying. It wasn’t until the introduction of protease inhibitors in 1996 that the tide began to turn. Smith recalls the worst years of the epidemic, during which life in much of the country seemed to go on as usual, as akin to “walking through the valley of the shadow of death alone.”
A Historic Split
As the fight for LGBT equality continued, so did the conversations within many Christian denominations. Were LGBT worshippers welcomed? What about ministers? These questions led to clashes in many denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
In particular, a denominational vote to allow the ordination for gay and lesbian clergymembers sparked a backlash from conservative churches. Some left the Presbyterian U.S.A. denomination to align themselves with more conservative entities. The West Hollywood church’s move to UCC was not because the Presbyterian denomination was becoming more LGBT-affirming but because it was not doing so quickly enough.
“We had so had it,” Smith said.
Smith, who believes full LGBT equality is at least 50 years away within the Presbyterian U.S.A. denomination, believes that his congregation will not be the only progressive church to leave because of the rift on LGBT issues such as the ordination of LGBT clergy and marriage for same-sex couples.
Progressive and Contemporary
Today the church remains a largely LGBT congregation with about 75-100 members and a larger community of occasional visitors. It’s primarily a young crowd, and most aren’t church-every-Sunday types, although there are regulars who come from as far away as Palm Springs.
Visitors will note that letters affixed to the building still say “West Hollywood Presbyterian Church,” a callback to the church’s history. A Facebook-inspired vinyl sign in front of the building illustrates its vales and contemporary worship style. “Proud 2b progressive/Proud 2b Christian/Proud 2b UCC,” it says. A “relationship” drop-down menu is open with the cursor indicating “it’s complicated.”
For Smith, though, there’s nothing complicated about his relationship with the congregation.
“It’s an honor beyond all honors to be the pastor of this church,” he said.
Wish I’d lived here then! How different my life might have been had I had this church instead of my UPCUSA church, thought a More Light Church, in a small upstate NY community in which I taught school. Good for THEM! I’d attend–if I weren’t now an atheist!