troy perry: i see these signs standing around that says we're not afraid anymore. aid anymore. i'm not. troy: i was so out and open. all my members couldn't be and i knew that early on. but if i'm going out to demonstrate, you're going out with me, and they did. and i will be eternally grateful because i had no idea how quickly we would have to demonstrate. andrea segal: reverend perry was just a magnificent person, and taught us that the lord loves us anyway, no matter who we are. lorri jean: but he decided that he was going to create a church that was especially for people like us, and be a place where people could still have a relationship with god and still feel worthy and whole. troy: i had found myself all at once, knowing that god loved me. just before that, i'd had a suicide attempt where i cut both my wrists and ended up in the hospital and i tell people to this day god spoke to me in that still small voice in the mind's ear and said to me, "troy, i love you. you're my son. i don't have stepsons and daughters." and with that, i knew i was a christian, i kne

troy perry: i kept trying to figure out where do you meet gay people?. the first gay bar i went to was called the "red raven" in hollywood. it was so dark, i could not see my hand in front of my face. they had red lights throughout the bar. i--had signs that said, "do not talk to strangers." and i thought, "how do you meet anybody here if you can't talk to strangers?" they were trying to give you a clue about the police. alexei: women could dance together and with no problems, but two men couldn't. and there was a club and it was called the canyon club. troy: the canyon club. the canyon club was located in topanga canyon. alexei: and there were two juke boxes in the place, one at either end of the dance floor. and when the county sheriffs would be coming in, the doorman would flip the switch. the other juke box would go on, and all the partners would separate and switch partners. troy: "grab one of the four lesbians," they told me. i thought, "this is so weird." alexei: the sheriffs would come in. they'd look around and when they left, he'd switch--he'd