Like many couples, Alma Perez and Lupita Sotelo Loredo Perez met online. They chatted for weeks. When they finally went on a date about two years ago, Lupita said, Alma told her right away that she wanted to commit to her.

Soon after, they married. When they had their son, Christian, 11 months ago, they yearned for him to be baptized.

They just didn't know if they would be allowed.

"It's part of our heritage to have a baptism, to have our kids blessed by holy water," Lupita said. "It's a moment when you just want to feel close to God. I said, 'there has to be a way.'"

Lupita and Alma were both baptized and raised in the Roman Catholic faith. But when they came out to their families and communities, they felt like distance formed between them and the church.

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So Lupita searched online for LGBT-friendly churches in the area. The first result was St. Cecilia Catholic Community, a two-year-old "non-Vatican Catholic" church in Palm Springs. The pastor, Father David Lynch, quickly returned her message.

"When a family comes to church to have their child baptized, they're making a statement that they want their home to be a part of the kingdom of God," Lynch said. "We want that child to have some tiny, tiny measure of heaven in their families."

Lynch, who belonged to the Episcopal church before he was ordained in 2015, identifies himself as part of the "old Catholic" movement — an array of contemporary congregations that identify with groups that have split from the Roman Catholic Church in the last few centuries.

St. Cecilia is not affiliated with the Vatican or the Diocese of San Bernardino.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino said their priests can, in fact, baptize the children of gay couples. According to communications director John Andrews, "Bishop Barnes has directed that priests should look at each situation of this kind that arises, dialogue with parents to understand their intentions as far as raising the child in the faith, and then make a decision. I know for a fact that some priests... have made the decision to baptize a child with same-sex parents. Others have chosen not to."

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And St. Theresa, the largest Roman Catholic parish in Palm Springs, has a group of LGBT members who meet regularly and march in Palm Springs' annual Pride parade.

"A lot of people think the Catholic Church is against gay people, and that's not true," said Father John Kavcak, pastor at St. Theresa. However, he acknowledged, some members of the church still act as such. "Everyone needs to be told, 'you're a child of God, you're loved.' Does everyone do that? No, but we do it here. Have people been hurt? Yeah."

Lynch has sought to define his church as LGBT-friendly. He said part of his mission is to welcome people who've been "turned off at other churches, hurt at other churches," and he hopes to create a community where everyone feels welcome.

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On Sunday, Perez family members doubled the size of the small congregation at St. Cecilia. Alma's parents, from Los Angeles and El Salvador, brought the child his baptismal outfit — a pressed white shirt with a navy bow tie and vest, plus traditional white socks with embroidered crosses. Lupita's parents, who work in agriculture in the eastern Coachella Valley, had to work; but her two daughters took turns holding their little brother as he fidgeted.

Alma held Christian as he was baptized, water rolling over his forehead and into his thick hair. Lynch covered his head with a cloth, which the toddler immediately removed, then wrapped him in a towel. Christian's grandmother held him as the women took hold of the baptismal candle, which Lynch lit. The flame burned until nearly the end of the ceremony.

"I'm very happy," Alma said. "We never thought it was going to be possible... We didn't know there was a church that supported the LGBT community."

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The family gathered with the church's congregants around a folding table after the ceremony, sharing tamales and a cake in Christian's honor.

"I know there is a God," Lupita said. "I tell him, if being the way I am is a sin, you be the one to judge me the day I leave this world, and let that be the only sin I have to confront... I don't believe that God is going to condemn me. If anything, I'm pretty sure he's going to be proud of me for being a mom, for having my children, a blessing from him, and taking care of them."