Rev. Elder Darlene Garner

Darlene Garner is an American clergyperson and LGBT activist, and a co-founder of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays (NCBLG). She was the first African-American elder in the Metropolitan Community Church and she helped create (and now leads) the denomination's biannual Conference for People of African Descent (PAD). In 2008 and 2009, she served as MCC Vice-Moderator. She is a nationally recognized speaker on LGBT religious issues; for instance, she was invited to join several other nationally known speakers to announce the "American Prayer Hour", an gay-affirming alternative to the "National Prayer Breakfast". For her work in the LGBT community, Garner was credited in The African American Almanac as "contributing to the visible image of gays in society" and in 2010 was named a "Capital Pride Hero" by Capital Pride.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Garner was brought up in the National Baptist Convention;she later attended the Episcopal Church and eventually joined the Metropolitan Community Church in 1976.

Garner was ordained as Metropolitan Community Church clergy in 1988. She has served as Associate Pastor of MCC in Philadelphia, PA, and as Pastor of MCC in Baltimore, MD, and MCC of Northern Virginia from 1991 to 1998, during which time she was used as a source by U.S. News & World Report for stories on LGBT issues. Garner served MCCDC as Church Treasurer and Lay Delegate and later served MCC's former Mid-Atlantic District as assistant district coordinator. She now is the Director for the Office of Emerging Ministries.

Garner also sits on the Diversity & Inclusion Council and on the Religion Council of the Human Rights Campaign.

On 3 March 2010, Garner and her partner Candy Holmes were one of the first same-sex couples to apply for a marriage license in the District of Columbia. On March 9, 2010, Garner and Holmes were married along with two other couples at the Human Rights Campaign building.