Roy Birchard was born in July, 1943, in Middlebury, Vermont, to Adrian
Birchard and Winifred Killoran. He graduated from Berea College in
Kentucky in 1965 with an English major and earned a B.D. (M.Div.) degree from
Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1969.
Birchard was ordained in June, 1969, by the Addison Association of the
Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ. He returned to school
beginning a Ph.D. program in English at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. During his year there, Birchard came out as a gay
man. Then he moved back to New York City where he became involved with the
Gay Activists Alliance while working as a copy editor in the United Presbyterian
Church headquarters (1970 to 1975).
Birchard served on the board of directors of the newly-formed Metropolitan
Community Church in New York City from 1971 to 1972 and then served as that
congregation's pastor from 1973 to 1975. Over the following twenty years,
Birchard pastored a number of MCC congregations: MCC of Tidewater, Norfolk,
Virginia (1977-78); MCC of Greater St. Louis (1978-80); All God's Children MCC,
Minneapolis (1982-85); MCC Hawaii, Honolulu (1985-87); and Golden Gate MCC, San
Francisco (1992-1994).
He also served in a variety of leadership positions in the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, including: editor, The Gay
Christian (1971-73); Board of Elders (1974-75); Director and Ecumenical
Relations Director of the Washington Office (1975-77); Ministerial Credentials
Committee (1977-81); and Circuit Rider, MCC Illiamo, Quincy, Illinois
(1981-82).
He has lived in San Francisco since 1987 and cooperated with MCC efforts to
initiate congregations in Asia and an Asian-American support group. Since
1989 he has been studying Mandarin Chinese. In 1997 he officially retired from
MCC ministry.
Since 1998 he has been actively involved with the Fellowship of
Reconciliation (www.forusa.org), an interfaith peace and justice
organization where he focuses on U.S. - China and Taiwan issues. He
also works as an overseas volunteer researcher for Encounter Missions International
of Long Beach, California ( www.emiglobal.org), and several Hong
Kong church and peace/justice groups. He is a prayer partner for
EMI and the several independent Tongzhi (LGBT) congregations in Hong Kong
and Taiwan.
Birchard attends the Freedom in Christ Evangelical Church in San
Francisco.
(This biographical statement written from information provided by Roy
Birchard.)