Douglas Federhart

Douglas Federhart was born in Sioux City in 1950 and grew up with his family on the West Side at 1906 West 19th St. He grew up playing in the Loess Hills and connecting with the many extended family members who lived in town. He attended Smith School, West Junior High and part of his sophomore year at Sioux City Central before the family moved to South Sioux City. He and his family were active attendees of Mayflower Congregational Church, where Doug trained and eventually served as an organist.   

Doug graduated from South Sioux City High in 1968 and began college as an architecture major at the University of Nebraska. In 1973 Doug met John Funke, who became a work and life partner. They began a homebuilding business, Federhart & Funke Builders, in 1974. In the late 1970s, Doug battled alcoholism, found his way into recovery and experienced a spiritual awakening. He was involved in the founding of Dignity Siouxland, a local chapter of Dignity USA which was a lay movement of LGBT Catholics. Dignity Siouxland served as a beacon of hope to both out and closeted LGBT individuals and their families. Doug left Sioux City in 1981 to begin religious studies at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (Minnesota) and completed his masters of divinity in 1984. Doug has continued residing in Minneapolis, where he now lives with his long-time partner and husband, Stuart Holland, and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

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