Metropolitan Community Church
Reverend Dr. G. Penny Nixon is Senior Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, one of the city's largest and most active churches which has become a spiritual and community center for the LGBT community. In her work, Nixon has encouraged gays and lesbians to experience the fullness of Christianity while rejecting the church's sexist and homophobic views. Nixon speaks across America and abroad at conferences, churches, and colleges advocating social justice and community diversity.
After having served as Columbia University's Campus Minister for six years, Nixon was ordained in 1990 and called to serve in the Global Mission Unit of the Presbyterian Church in Soweto, South Africa. After completing her tenure in South Africa, she then returned to the United States, San Francisco more specifically, and entered the San Francisco Theological Seminary. In May of 2001 she received her Doctor of Ministry and has continued to serve at the Metropolitan Church in San Francisco where she has stepped into the role of senior pastor. She resides with her partner of over ten years, Annlee McGurk, in San Francisco and Jenner, California.
Through her leadership at the Metropolitan Community Church, Nixon inspires dramatic change as a person of faith for the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community and all disenfranchised groups. She works to empower and train members of the LBGT community with programs created under the Metropolitan Community Foundation. Some of those programs include reading to pupils at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, a public elementary school, and providing food and showers to the hungry and homeless. Nixon continues to be one of the top spiritual leaders often called upon by local and state officials to serve as a strong voice on social policy and community issues, and is a tireless advocate for the rights of people in need and other marginalized groups.
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