Metropolitan Community Church (150 Eureka St)

The site of the MCC was sold in 2015 and no longer is operating. It is an important stop anyway. Many of the LGBTQ+ community moving to the Castro neighborhood came from religious backgrounds and grew up going to church. Most of them were taught that being gay was wrong, sinful, evil, and would go to hell for being gay. Looking for that religious community, the Metropolitan Community Church was the first church formed by gay people for gay people. But even as late as the 1970s it was dangerous to have a gay church. Across the country, the MCC was the target of gunshots, fire. The worst of these attacks taking place at an MCC chapter in New Orleans burning the building to the ground, killing 32 people who were praying inside. Even in San Francisco, they would meet in libraries, community centers, and changing their location from week to week. By the 1980s the community was able to create this building you are standing in front of now. Due to high rent in the Bay Area, they have moved their location downtown.

If you take a look at your feet, you will see many bricks with names or phrases on them. These are memorials for people who died due to the AIDs epidemic during the 1980s and 1990s. Take a moment to look at those bricks and a moment of silence.