For Pastor Louis Martinage, finding Metropolitan Community Church Pittsburgh in the early 1990s was life-changing.
At the time, being openly gay and openly Christian felt impossible to reconcile. “The gay people in my life hated the church,” he recalls. “The church people in my life hated gays.”
But MCC Pittsburgh, part of the larger Metropolitan Community Church movement, was founded to serve LGBTQ+ Christians and offered something different: acceptance without asking people to split themselves apart.
In this episode of Then to Now to When, Louis reflects on MCC Pittsburgh’s 51-year history and the role the church has played in creating space for queer people seeking spiritual community. From humble beginnings to a congregation that once approached nearly 100 members, MCC became a refuge for many navigating rejection, isolation, and loss.
That commitment was especially visible during the AIDS crisis, when many churches turned people away out of fear. MCC Pittsburgh instead chose care and presence. Louis recalls visiting the March on Washington and seeing the AIDS Memorial Quilt spread across the National Mall, thousands of lives represented in fabric and memory.
“Hard not to cry,” he says.
Today, MCC Pittsburgh continues its mission, grounded in the simple belief that faith should be rooted not in condemnation but in love.
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“Our opinion is that the Bible does not condemn, but loves us,” Louis says. “The foundation is God’s love for us and our love for each other.”
On May 17, the congregation will celebrate 51 years of MCC Pittsburgh, with former pastor Rev. Roberta Dunn speaking during the church’s regular 2:00 PM service.