On June 28, 1970, gay rights activists organized the first gay pride parade in the Los Angeles area. The parade was intended to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York, then the largest gay establishment in the United States. In honor of Stonewall, located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, Los Angeles organizers dubbed their parade Christopher Street West. Among a number of gay pride parades held across the country that year, Christopher Street West drew one of the largest crowds and garnered enough credibility to warrant street closures along the parade route. Parade marchers carried signs and banners reading "The Lord is my shepherd and He knows I'm gay," "Gay pride equals gay power," "Heterosexuals for homosexual freedom," and "You can get married, why can't we?" These images were captured for posterity by filmmaker and activist Pat Rocco. Among the activists that organized the first Christopher Street West parade were Morris Kight and Rev. Troy Perry, both of whom appear in this footage. Morris Kight was active locally and nationally in politics, civil rights, and labor rights throughout his life. He founded or co-founded gay rights groups, including the L.A. branch of the Gay Liberation Front, an organization that was already operating in New York and Berkeley. His activism earned him a seat on the LA County Human Relations Commission for two decades. Troy Perry founded the Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 to allow L.A.'s gay population to worship freely. Within three years, the church had its own building and a congregation of 1,000 members. Perry led other gay rights crusades, including the 1978 defeat of the Briggs Initiative that sought to prohibit gay and lesbian teachers from working in California public schools. Perry also co-organized the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979, and participated in White House conferences on civil rights for gays, HIV/AIDS, and hate crimes in 1977, 1995 and 1997. From the Pat Rocco Collection and Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

Rev. Troy Perry, founder of what was then billed as a gay church (Metropolitan Community Church), speaks to Ros Regelson's class at the NYU School of Continuing Education: "Homosexuality: A Contemporary Approach." He discusses many aspects of the church's beginnings, but the anecdote about his roommate's reaction cracked me up. I don't think I'd heard that story before. This aired as part of a report on the state of gay rights in 1971 America.