The Roanoker - May/June 2021 - 116

116 MAY/JUNE 2021

renovated historic home in Old Southwest.
In time, they had two children-a daughter,
now in 7th grade, and son, a 5th grader-
through a surrogate mother. One June,
they married in a rainstorm atop Roanoke's
Center in the Square.
Then, in 2017, Cobb found himself again
at a crossroads. He was approached by the
leadership of the Metropolitan Community
Church in Los Angeles, the founding MCC
congregation, whose birth fostered the
growth of 172 churches in 37 countries. If
Cobb became pastor there, his influence
would be exponentially larger than ever in
his life.
He interviewed and was offered the
position. Then he paused, and considered
all he'd be leaving behind: his two adult
children, a city he had come to cherish,
a broad collection of acquaintances and
friends. He'd be potentially uprooting his
husband and young children.
By summer's end, he shifted gears,
deciding to stay. He chose family and
community over position and power.
" What I came to discover is that
Roanoke has become my home, " he
explains.
Then, he says, he realized, " Okay, my next
step is to find a way to give back to the city,
to invest in this city, and to do that in a
way that's connected with social justice and
equity, those things that I value. "
Cobb wasn't walking away from leading a
church so much as expanding his definition
of what " church " was.

BUILDING BRIDGES

Cobb enters a tiny, tidy office on the second
floor of the Lawson Building, a two-story
structure that sits alone in a quiet corner of
the Gainsboro neighborhood.
This spartan space is his place to work,
focus, recharge. It's a needed refuge. When
Cobb is not here, he is giving everything
he's got.
His days are divided. Some begin at
Highland Park Elementary School, where,
as community outreach coordinator, he
finds projects that link students with their
city. A recent example: collecting videos
of community members introducing
themselves and reading poems for Black
History Month.

Cobb's day might continue at Hermitage
Roanoke, a retirement community near
Roanoke Country Club. There, he ministers
to residents and supports staff. He leads a
Vespers service on Sunday nights. Over the
past year, he has sat with the sick and dying
even as their family members could not be
with them due to COVID.
" He genuinely cares, " says James Stovall,
executive director at Hermitage Roanoke.
One example of how deeply he connects
with people, says Stovall, is on display
during the Hermitage's All Saints' Day
service, where residents who died during
the previous year are remembered.
" Joe gets to know our residents on a
level that he can speak to their lifetime

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TRACI HOPRICH

could be spotted in dress shirt and bow tie
even in elementary school.
He grew up in the embrace of the
Methodist church, fed by the people
and songs and traditions there. While in
college, he felt called to become a church
pastor. At the same time, he secretly
wondered if he were gay.
When he entered seminary at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, he met
Leigh Anne Taylor, an outgoing church
musician and fellow seminarian, from
Southwest Virginia. Over nearly two
decades, she captured his heart, made him
a father and ministered beside him in
churches in Texas and England and Kansas.
Then, she set him free to become the
man he was meant to be.
The singular struggle of Cobb's life was
choosing to live as an openly gay man-and,
as a result, losing his position as an ordained
minister in the United Methodist Church.
For a time, he lost his role as husband
and son-in-law, too. But through a
remarkable journey of forgiveness, tenacity
and dedication, Cobb and Taylor created
a new way of being family, one where
acceptance and honesty were valued
above all else. The two chronicled their
experiences in a joint memoir, " Our Family
Outing: A Memoir of Coming Out and
Coming Through, " published in 2011.
Taylor and their children moved to
Blacksburg in 1999 to be close to family.
Cobb followed, settling in Roanoke in
2001. He worked for various nonprofits,
including executive director of what was
then Interfaith Hospitality Network-now
Family Promise-a collaboration among
area churches to shelter homeless families.
But the call to minister was strong. In
2006, he was ordained by the Metropolitan
Community Church, a denomination
established in 1968 to serve the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer
community, a group often ostracized from
traditional religions. Cobb became pastor
of Metropolitan Community Church of the
Blue Ridge in 2009. For eight years, he led
that congregation, shepherding its flock and
addressing human rights issues across the
community.
Cobb met Roanoke radiologist James
Matthews in 2001. They settled into a
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