Each week, she drives other transgender women from around the Washington area to church. Im trying my hardest to fill that place with other transgender persons, she says.
Alan Jones, one of the churchs more elusive members, prefers to minister on the fringe One day, he enters D.C.s Malcolm X Park, a once-notorious destination for cruising and prostitution in the gay black community. Within minutes of his arrival, a young, gay man, apparently on drugs, strikes up a conversation with intense sexual overtones. Jones spends an hour with the man, using non-judgmental street slang to counsel and encourage him. You dont have to put yourself through this, brother, he says. God loves you just as you are and you deserve better than this. The exchange ends with a huga hallmark of A Jay’s routine.