July 27th

07-27-1940 Reverend Troy Perry – Born in Tallahassee, Florida. He is the founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian denomination with a special affirming ministry with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in Los Angeles on October 6, 1968. The first worship service was attended by twelve people, nine of whom were Perry’s friends. Within several months services took place in a theatre that held 600 people. In 1971, their own building was dedicated with over a thousand members in attendance. The MCC has now over 300 congregations in 18 countries. The 2007 documentary film titles Call Me Troy is the story of his life and legacy, including the founding of MCC and his struggles as a civil rights leader in the gay community. Perry performed same-sex unions as early as 1970 and ordained women as pastors as early as 1972

07-27-1966   Nedra Johnson – Born in New York City, New York. She is an American rhythm and blues and jazz singer-songwriter. Johnson has performed internationally at jazz, blues, LGBT pride, and women’s music festivals. Her father is the jazz performer Howard Johnson and she has performed with him and his group, Gravity. An out lesbian, on her first album, Testify, she recorded the black feminist poet Pat Parker’s 1978 poem, Where Will You Be? (considered a feminist anthem). In 2005, Johnson released her own version of Amazon Women Rise as a tribute to the lesbian songwriter Maxine Feldman, a founding leader in women’s music. In 2006 she received an OUTMUSIC Award for Outstanding New Recording-Female for her album Nedra.

07-27-1956   Carol Leifer – Born in East Williston, New York to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. She is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actress. David Letterman discovered her performing in a comedy club in the 1980s. Her stand up is often autobiographical encompassing her Jewish ancestry, coming out, same-sex marriage, relationships, and parenting. She has been nominated for four Emmy Awards. Leifer was married to a man from 1981 to 1987. In 1996, she met and fell in love with Lori Wolf, a Jewish real estate executive. In 2015, the couple married. They have an adopted son. Leifer has become vegan, saying, “I recently became vegan because I felt that as a Jewish lesbian, I wasn’t part of a small enough minority. So now I’m a Jewish lesbian vegan.”

07-27-1946 – 07-18-1996 Stephen Donaldson – Born in Utica, New York. His birth name was Robert Anthony Martin, Jr. and he was also known as Donny the Punk. He was an American bisexual activist and known for his pioneering activism in LGBT rights and prison reform. Donaldson is known for his writing about punk rock and subculture. While at Columbia University, he formed the first official chartered student gay rights group on April 19, 1967. By 1971, there were an estimated 150 gay student groups at colleges and universities. Donaldson died of AIDS in 1996 at the age of 49.

07-27-1953 Wilhelmus “Wim” van de Camp – Born in Oss, Netherlands. He is a Dutch politician and became a member of the European Parliament in 2009. Van de Camp, a Roman Catholic, is openly gay.