The Rev. Cecil Williams was a charismatic minister who turned a fading church in the gritty Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco into a vibrant hub of worship, activism, and social services.
"Growing up, there were members of the African-American community who inspired us to dream and to serve, and Cecil Williams was at the top of that list," says M
The Rev Cecil Williams, SF champion of the poor, dies kalw.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kalw.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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. As part of Williams’ mission to welcome the poor and disenfranchised into his Tenderloin congregation, he began […]