Darlene Onita Garner is an American minister and LGBT activist, and a co-founder of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays (NCBLG).
[1] She was the first African-American elder in the Metropolitan Community Church[2][3] and she helped create (and now leads) the denomination's biannual Conference for People of African Descent (PAD).
[11] Before entering the professional ministry, Garner worked as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Sexual Minorities, beginning in 1987.
[13] From 1977 to 1980, Garner worked to help found the NCBLG, then known as the National Coalition of Black Gays (NCBG).
[7][19] 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.