Born in Tallahassee, Florida, a gay Southern Baptist minister, he is a Christian in spite of Christianity: he was thrown out of two Protestant denominations for being gay, yet ended up, in 1968, being the founder, with 12 people in his living room in Los Angeles, the elder, and moderator of a Christian church - the largest of its kind - that primarily serves the needs of gay men and lesbians, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC).

In 1992, the American National Council of Churches denied not only membership to the MCC, but also observer status. But Perry did not take this as a bad sign, the MCC being granted observer status with the World Council of Churches. He said, "We continue to expand and grow and carry the good news that Jesus died for our sins, not our sexuality".

Rev. Troy D. Perry is the author of The Lord is My Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay (1972), and Don't Be Afraid Anymore: The Story of Reverend Troy Perry and the Metropolitan Community Churches (1990).

From 1985 his lover is Phillip Ray DeBlieck. The reside together, in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles, California.