The Rev. James Earl Sandmire; Founded Gay-Oriented Church
The Rev. James Earl Sandmire, founder of the All Saints Metropolitan Community Church in West Hollywood and an international leader in that gay- and lesbian-oriented church, died Friday. He was 59 and died of AIDS-related causes in a San Francisco hospital.
Sandmire was a Harvard graduate who as a young man was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He maintained an active ministry in Los Angeles during most of the 1970s before moving to San Francisco. Here he also served on the Mayor’s Committee for the Revitalization of Los Angeles and helped form the Metropolitan Elections Commission of Los Angeles, established as a political fund-raising organization by gay groups.
Sandmire was also an elder and treasurer of the MCC international fellowship.
The MCC, with an international membership of about 80,000, was the first to devote itself to a specific mission for the gay community, a church spokesman said.
Sandmire is survived by his longtime companion, Jack Hubbs; his father; a daughter; son; grandson and three sisters.
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