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The Reverend Joseph Eugene Paul Breton—pioneering religious leader, LGBTQ+ rights advocate, and founder of the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C. (MCCDC)—passed away on September 13 in Pasadena, California, at age 85.
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, and raised in Connecticut, Rev. Breton served in the U.S. Air Force Security Service (1964–1968) before dedicating his life to faith and civil rights activism. Moving to Washington, D.C., in 1969, he worked alongside early movement leaders like Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings. He co-founded the Gay Activists Alliance and, on May 11, 1971, chartered MCCDC out of his Capitol Hill living room—creating a vital spiritual home for LGBTQ+ Christians.
Ordained by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) on May 13, 1973, Rev. Breton’s ministry spanned the nation. He served as pastor and interim pastor for congregations in Baltimore, Phoenix, San Bernardino, Orange County, and Riverside, and ministered in New Orleans following the tragic 1973 UpStairs Lounge fire. During the 1980s, he served as a Ministry of Education Instructor in MCC’s Samaritan Institute, teaching the History of Christian Thought, and stepped up as an AIDS vigil coordinator. He also co-founded Great Outdoors in 1977 to foster community through nature.
Later at UC Riverside, Rev. Breton helped establish the campus LGBT Resource Center, the AIDS Education Center, and an LGBTQ+ Studies minor. In 1989, he co-founded Sarum Episcopal Church and St. Aelred’s Chapel, where he ministered until his retirement in 2005.
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