Robert Watson Wood

Robert Watson Wood ( – ) was an American clergyman of the United Church of Christ, an early activist for LGBT rights and advocate for the LGBT community both before and after the pivotal Stonewall riots in the United States, and an author.

Wood was born in Youngstown, Ohio, on May 21, 1923. He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania but left and enlisted in the United States Army to fight in World War II in North Africa and Italy with the 36th Infantry Division. He was severely wounded in battle, receiving the Bronze Star Medal for "heroic achievement in combat" He began his pastoral career after graduating from Oberlin Seminary in 1951 and being ordained by the Congregational Church at Fair Haven, Vermont.

He met his husband, Hugh M. Coulter, an artist and cowboy, in 1962.

In a long career as a pastor he officiated at many same-sex weddings and continuously advocated in both the Christian world and broader society for the rights and spiritual integrity of LGBT people. He died in Concord, New Hampshire, in 2018.

Works Christ and the Homosexual (1960), New York, Vantage Press, pp 221