The Rev. Dr. William R. Johnson (born June 12, 1946 in Houston, Texas) was the first openly gay person ordained in the United Church of Christ and the first such person ordained in the Christian Church in modern times. The historic ordination took place on June 25, 1972, at the Community United Church of Christ in San Carlos, California. His ordination is the subject of the documentary film, A Position of Faith (1973; released on video in 2005). Throughout his career, Bill has provided counsel and support to hundreds of LGBT seminarians and clergypersons in the United Church of Christ and ecumenically.

Prior to coming out as a gay seminarian on November 11, 1970, Bill served as student pastor of UCC congregations in Donnellson and Franklin, Iowa; Kent, Washington; and San Carlos, California. He also served an industrial chaplaincy internship in Chicago and as a hospital chaplaincy intern in Oakland, California. Upon graduation from seminary in May, 1971, he was called by the Southern California Conference of the UCC to a specialized ministry among unchurched individuals. Returning to the Bay Area, he served as executive director of the Council on Religion and the Homosexual from 1973-76 and taught in the Women's Studies Program as San Francisco State University during the 1976-77 academic year.

Bill Johnson was founder of the UCC Gay Caucus in 1972 (now the UCC Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns, aka "The Coalition"). He served as national coordinator for The Coalition from 1972-77 and later served as editor of The Coalition newsletter, WAVES . In the late 1970s, he proposed that The Coalition hold an annual "National Gathering" of Coalition members, the first of which was held in 1981.

In 1974, Bill co-edited/authored (with Sally Gearhart) Loving Women/Loving Men: Gay Liberation and the Church. In 1976, Bill and Phyllis Lyon (who, with Del Martin, co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955), organized and facilitated the first gatherings of parents of lesbians and gays in San Francisco. That group evolved into what is now P-FLAG/San Francisco. In 1978, Bill founded Maranatha: Riversiders for Lesbian/Gay Concerns at The Riverside Church in New York City, the first parish-based GLBT ministry in the United Church of Christ. In 1979, Bill was a contributing author to Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life , edited by Betty Berzon (revised and updated in 1992 and 2001). From 1981-83, he served in an administrative staff position with the UCC Office for Church in Society, followed by short-term employment with Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists and three years at a New York City law firm. In 1988, Bill was called to serve as part-time Consultant in HIV/AIDS Ministry with the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries.

In 1990, Bill was elected to the UCC national staff as a Program Minister of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, Division of the American Missionary Association, and served as Minister for HIV/AIDS Ministries and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns for 11 years. In that position he helped establish the AIDS National Interfaith Network, which he served as Program Officer and as Interim Executive Director, established the United Church HIV/AIDS Network, co-authored (with Cindy Bowman) the UCC AIDS prevention curriculum, "Affirming Persons-Saving Lives," the first such curriculum for use in Christian education settings (1993).  In 1999, he hosted “Called Out for Good,” a consultation with openly gay, lesbian and bisexual UCC  pastors focused on the special challenges and concerns of being out in parish ministry. With the Rev. Loey Powell, he advocated for  domestic partner benefits for GLBT employees of the UCC national setting, which were put into place by the UCC Pension Boards in 1996. He provided leadership for the UCC on numerous issues including ending discrimination in the Boy Scouts of America, equal marital rights for same gender couples, bullying and harassment in public schools, and ending hate-related violence.  He created a variety of resources for UCC congregations including Open and Affirming: A Journey of Faith (a welcoming congregation video and resource book); Circle of Grace (nine Bible study lesson plans); and two volumes of Preach Out!  (compilations of LGBT affirming sermons by UCC pastors). 

Bill organized the first national consultation of UCC bisexual members in 1999, and the first national consultation with UCC transgender members in 2001. He served as executive producer of the documentary video, Bisex-u-al (2001). While on the UCC national staff, he supervised three UCC seminary interns: Sean Murray, Kate Huey and Darryl Kistler, now UCC clergy; and one UCC college student, Eric C. Smith. Bill was the primary author of the extensive body of social justice policies regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons adopted by the UCC General Syods and UCC Executive Council since 1973. 

In 1999, the Board of Directors of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries committed $500,000 to create the William R. Johnson Scholarship Fund for openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender UCC seminarians studying to be parish ministers.  Beginning in 2001, an average of 8 to 10 scholarships have been awarded annually from the endowment income, which has grown with additional contributions to nearly $800,000.

In the reorganization of the United Church of Christ national setting in 2000, Bill Johnson became the Executive for Health and Wholeness Advocacy and Minister for HIV/AIDS and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns in Wider Church Ministries (WCM) of the UCC.

In January 2002, Bill was called to the administrative position of Executive Associate to the Executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries (WCM), leaving behind 30 years of work on behalf of GLBT people of faith and their loved ones. He served as Executive Associate to two WCM Executive Ministers, Dale Bishop and Olivia Masih White, overseeing a 28-person staff. During his tenure with WCM, Bill envisioned and initiated work on the feature-length documentary film, Call Me Malcolm , for which he served as an executive producer.

Bill served on the founding National Advisory Board of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion. He also served on the founding national Advisory Committee of the LGBT Religious Archives Network at Chicago Theological Seminary. He founded and serves as coordinator for Elmhurst College Gay and Lesbian Alumni.

In January 2005, Johnson was called to served as Vice President for Member Relations with the UCC Council for Health and Human Service Ministries. The Council consists of 80 UCC-related corporations that operate more than 360 facilities and programs that provide primary and acute health care services, services to persons with disabilities, services to children, youth and families, and services to the aging. 

Bill is a graduate of Elmhurst College (BA, 1968), the Pacific School of Religion (M.Div., 1971), and the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (Ed.D., 1977). In 1993, he was a founding member of Liberation United Church of Christ in Lakewood, Ohio. At his local church he has served on the Church Council and as Treasurer of the congregation. He is a member of the Liberation United Church Choir. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where he serves on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union.

(This biographical statement provided by William R. Johnson.)