Rev. Marni Harmony (’74) featured in Oral History Account, “Equality from the Pulpit”
The following is an excerpt from the Orange County Regional History Center article “Equality from the Pulpit: The Rev. Marni Harmony” by Justine Truc, published on October 8, 2024. Click here to read the full article.
Marni Politte Harmony was born in Virginia in 1948. Growing up, she quickly developed a strong interest in religious studies, following in the footsteps of her father, who was “on a pretty deep spiritual journey all his life.” She pursued her passion at Tuft University, where she majored in religious studies and sociology and later joined the Boston University School of Theology on a scholarship. Before moving to Central Florida in the late 1980s, she traveled across the country, always eager to learn more about her faith …
In Orlando, Rev. Harmony found herself 
involved with a church that welcomed the LGBTQ+ community. She was able to come out to her church and started helping local organizations in their work toward social justice. She noticed that “we had to go through a phase of people being afraid and not wanting to join because we’d be known as the gay church,” but she always kept the doors of her church open to organizations such as the Hope & Help Center, the Orlando Gay Chorus, and the Delta Youth Alliance (now the Orlando Youth Alliance), as they were in “sympathy with our purposes and principles.”