Under Cecil Williams, Glide Memorial became world-renowned for welcoming ‘anyone who wanted to come’

When the Rev. Cecil Williams took over leadership of Glide Memorial Church in the 1960s and began transforming it into a national powerhouse for social justice and nonprofit services, he became an early ally of Tenderloin residents who were then among the city’s most marginalized: gay men, lesbians and transgender youth.

In the 1960s, San Francisco was still “a pretty conservative town” and police, supported by City Hall, regularly targeted gathering spots for LGBTQ men and women, arresting them for merely being social.