It's one story like many others in the LGBTQ+ community.

"I knew I couldn't change being gay and I couldn't be Christian, so I left the church and I stayed away for many years," Paul Anway, spiritual leader at Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque, said.

MCC was one of the first to provide a Christian-based sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people in the '60s when it was founded.

"A place was needed for LGBTQ+ people to be themselves and to reconcile their spirituality and their sexuality," Anway said. It's known as a place of inclusiveness and acceptance.

"Everyone here is on their own spiritual journey, and we try to journey together and to learn from each and grow with each other, but most of all, to love each other like a family," Anway said.

St. Michael's and All Angels Episcopal Churc

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