The 31st Throwback Thursday is to May 2011, when I dined at DC’s Acqua al 2 with Pastor Patrick Walker of the New Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast Washington. I wanted to learn about his church’s prominent campaign against the push for marriage equality in the city, but that led to a much broader discussion about what inspired him to pursue a life working in the church.
The council ended up approving marriage equality in 2009 (guess the campaign didn’t work out so well), before the Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015. I didn’t reach out to Pastor Walker for his reaction to either decision, and we did not keep in touch — although I enjoyed our dinner, and conversation flowed naturally and we were at the restaurant for quite some time. But a quick Google search shows that he is still in the District, and now has the title of senior pastor at his church.