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World Barbara Gittings to be Honored at MCC World Jubilee, July 6th Compiled by GayToday Metropolitan Community Churches Activist Barbara Gittings will be honored by the Metropolitan Community Churches at its World Jubilee and General Conference on July 6 Dallas, Texas -- The predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Churches will present its biennial Human Rights Award to pioneer gay rights activist Barbara Gittings at its World Jubilee and General Conference in Dallas, July 6. An activist for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights for more than 40 years, Gittings returns to Dallas to receive her award, the site where she picketed and set up an historic "Hug-A-Homosexual" booth run by the Task Force on Gay Liberation in 1971. Gittings has been an activist since 1958, a time when she says "there were scarcely two hundred of us in the whole United States. It was like a club -- we all knew each other." In 1958 she established the first East Coast Chapter of the first known lesbian organization in the United States, The Daughters of Bilitis, founded in 1955 in San Francisco. She marched in the first gay rights picket lines in the mid-60s at the White House and The Pentagon, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. "It was risky and we were scared," she said. "Picketing was not a popular tactic at the time, and our cause seemed outlandish even to most gay people." She was a charter member of the Boards of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (founded 1973) and the Gay Rights National Lobby (founded 1976). "Barbara Gittings' life of activism has made our world a better place, and has made life better for hundreds of thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons. We are pleased to honor her contributions with the MCC Human Rights Award," MCC Founder Rev. Troy Perry said. "It is especially fitting that we recognize her work in the very city where she held her historic protest more than three decades ago." She has addressed over 350 audiences, gay and non-gay, and especially enjoys running workshops such as "Lavender Leverage: How You Can Make a Difference" and lecturing on "Gay and Smiling: Tips From My 40 Years As a Gay Activist." She and her longtime partner Kay Tobin Lahusen are currently organizing forty years worth of movement memorabilia -- correspondence, artifacts, publications, photographs, and much more -- for future distribution to various gay/lesbian archives. "I continue to march, to boost the cause, to give practical help, and to cheer other activists and supporters," Gittings said. More than 1200 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Christians are expected to gather in Dallas for the week-long conference sponsored by Metropolitan Community Churches. With more than 46,000 members in almost 300 congregations in 22 countries, MCC forms the world's largest Chrsitian church group providing positive, affirming ministry to the GLBT communities.

For More ... Related Stories Barbara Gittings Awarded American Library Association's Top Honor Barbara Gittings: To the Rescue of Lesbian & Gay Literature Barbara Gittings (A Profile) Barbara Gittings: Lesbian & Gay Literature's Best Friend Related Sites MCC World Jubilee and General Conference

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