Gary J. Paterson (born 1949) is the current Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He is the first openly gay person to take the post since the church was formed in 1925, and the first in the world to lead a major Christian denomination. He was elected to the position on August 16, 2012, at the 41st General Council of the church after six ballots, and was installed as Moderator two days later. Paterson was born in Whitehorse, Yukon in 1949, and as an "army brat", lived in Toronto, Ontario and Germany] before his family settled in Vancouver, British Columbia.