Edith Allen Perry

Perry helped her eldest son Troy Perry when he launched the Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles in 1968 as a welcoming religious community for LGBT people. "All I know and need to know is that Troy is my son and I love him", she told a Los Angeles newspaper in 1970.^[2] In 1969, she co-founded a parents' organization with another mother, Vi Anderson.^[1] Perry appeared with her son and his partner in parades and rallies through the 1970s and 1980s, including the first Pride Parade, in Los Angeles in 1970.^[3] She appeared on the "Human Rights Train" in 1977, the first gay rights organization float to appear in the Hollywood Santa Claus Lane Parade.^[4] In 1980, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Christopher Street West, a Los Angeles gay pride organization.^[1] She wrote the foreword to her son's memoir, The Lord is my Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay (1972).^[5] He dedicated a later memoir, Don't Be Afraid Anymore (1990) to her memory.^[6]

Edith Allen married at least four times.^[6] In 1940, she married Troy Perry Sr., a bootlegger, as her second husband; they had five sons together before he died in a car accident while being chased by police in 1952.^[7] She remarried a few months later, but soon divorced her third husband.^[8] She died from cancer in Los Angeles in 1989, aged 72 years.^[1] For her work, she was described by Chris Glaser as "a saint in the cause of lesbian and gay Christians."^[9]

The Edith Allen Perry Chapel at the Metropolitan Community Church's visitors' center in Los Angeles is named for her,^[10] as is the denomination's Edith Allen Perry Award, for parents or family members who are exemplary allies.^[11]

Recipients of the Edith Allen Perry Award have included Betty DeGeneres (1999),^[12] Marian Schoenwether and Barbara Chase Wilson (2007),^[13][14] the family of James Byrd (2010), Linda Brock of Canada (2005), Edafe Okporo, a refugee from Nigeria (2021),^[15] and Nan McGregor (2003)^[16] and Rev. June Norris (1997) of Australia.^[11]