Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los AngelesMain MenuResearch of the DecadesResearch1960s Illustration DevelopmentIllustration DevelopmentPlaylists of the DecadesPlaylistssparcinla.org185fc5b2219f38c7b63f42d87efaf997127ba4fcGreat Wall Institute - Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)
1970s Dignity Church 1
1media/Screen Shot 2023-04-03 at 5.08.16 PM_thumb.png2023-04-04T00:11:07+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a4911Dignity Church New York during at a pride march in the early 1980s. While independent Protestant ministers like Perry were able to form new LGBT-friendly churches, the more rigid and hierarchical Catholic Church, typically prevented priests from ministering to this community. A rare exception to this rule was a Catholic priest named Father Patrick X. Nidorf. In 1969, Nidorf started the first ministry for gay and lesbian Catholics that would come to be called Dignity. Father “Pat” put advertisements in the Los Angeles Free Press about the new ministry, which instructed interested parties to contact him. As a precautionary measure, Nidorf required all new members to complete an application form, and in some cases submit to a personal interview. Originally based in San Diego, the meetings eventually moved to private homes in Los Angeles, where most of the members were based. As the group grew, Nidorf, like Perry, ran ads in The Advocate.plain2023-04-04T00:11:07+00:001970s-1980sGina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49