Kittredge Cherry (born 1957 in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

) is an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. There are 222 member congregations in 37 ...

Biography

Cherry studied journalism and art history at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. After graduation, she worked as a newspaper journalist and studied in Japan on a Rotary International Journalism Scholarship. She later studied Christian theology at

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the Disciples of Christ, ensuring the schoo ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. She was ordained by

(MCC), an international denomination that ministers primarily in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. She worked at MCC San Francisco, and then moved to Los Angeles to serve as MCC's national ecumenical officer. One of her main duties was promoting dialogue on homosexuality at the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...

(USA) and the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. As part of her ecumenical work, Cherry organized demonstrations for justice in the church, including Hands Around the God-Box at the New York offices of the National Council of Churches in June 1994. The Washington National Cathedral included one of her prayers in 2021-22 services honoring

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

, whose murder led to laws against anti-LGBTQ hate crimes. Cherry is the author of seven books, including ''Art That Dares'', a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for 2007. and the ''Jesus in Love'' series of novels.Lambda Literary Awards 2007
/ref> Her books have been translated into German, Polish, Chinese and Japanese. She lives as an open

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

with her life partner Audrey in Los Angeles and their papers are held at the

's ''Iowa Women's Archives''.

Works

*2014: ''The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision'' (Apocryphile Press) * 2008: ''Jesus in Love: At the Cross'' (AndroGyne Press) . * 2007: ''Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ and More'' (AndroGyne Press) . * 2006: ''Jesus in Love: A Novel'' (AndroGyne Press) German translation . * 2006: ''Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide'' (AndroGyne Press reprint of original 1991 HarperSanFrancisco edition) Harper . AndroGyne . Polish translation . Chinese translation . * 2002: ''Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women'' (Kodansha International) . Japanese translation . 30th-anniversary edition, 2017, from Stone Bridge Press . * 1995: ''Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies and Celebrations'' (Westminster John Knox Press) .

References

External links

Qspirit.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherry, Kittredge 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers American lesbian writers LGBT people from Iowa Metropolitan Community Church clergy Living people 1957 births University of Iowa alumni Pacific School of Religion alumni Queer theologians American Protestant religious leaders American Japanologists LGBT Protestant clergy American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Women orientalists