Kittredge Cherry

"Jesus in Love" redirects here. For other uses, see Sexuality and marital status of Jesus and Love of Christ.

Kittredge Cherry
Born	1957 (1957) Iowa City, Iowa
Education	Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion, Bachelor of Arts from University of Iowa
Notable work	Art That Dares, 2007 Equal Rites, 1994 Womansword, 1985
Spouse	Audrey Lockwood
Awards	Distinguished Service Award from Metropolitan Community Churches, 1995. Lambda Literary Award finalist, 2007.
Website	qspirit.net

Kittredge Cherry (born 1957 in Iowa) is an American author and a priest of Metropolitan Community Church.

Biography

Cherry studied journalism and art history at the University of Iowa. 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 in Berkeley, California. She was ordained by Metropolitan Community Church (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 (USA) and the World Council of Churches.

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. ^[1] She received the Distinguished Service Award, one of MCC’s highest honors, in 1995 “for her work in International Ecumenical Relations and for planning and executing the "Hands Around the God-Box" demonstration at Stonewall 25.” ^[2] The Washington National Cathedral included one of her prayers in 2021–23 services honoring Matthew Shepard, whose murder led to laws against anti-LGBTQ hate crimes. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

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. ^{[6] [7]} The New York Times Book Review praised her book Womansword as “a very graceful, erudite job.” ^[8] Her books have been translated into German, Polish, Chinese and Japanese. She lives as an open lesbian with her life partner Audrey in Los Angeles and their papers are held at the University of Iowa's Iowa Women's Archives. ^[9]

Works

• 2014: The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision (Apocryphile Press) ISBN   9781940671406 ^[10]
• 2008: Jesus in Love: At the Cross (AndroGyne Press) ISBN   978-1-933993-42-3.
• 2007: Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ and More (AndroGyne Press) ISBN   978-1-933993-29-4. ^[11]
• 2006: Jesus in Love: A Novel (AndroGyne Press) ISBN   978-1-933993-18-8 German translation ISBN   978-3-940071-04-0.
• 2006: Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide (AndroGyne Press reprint of original 1991 HarperSanFrancisco edition) Harper ISBN   978-0-06-250165-3. AndroGyne ISBN   978-1-933993-11-9. Polish translation ISBN   978-83-246-1430-1. Chinese translation ISBN   957-9002-44-4.
• 2002: Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women (Kodansha International) ISBN   978-4-7700-2888-4. Japanese translation ISBN   4-8288-1197-4. 30th-anniversary edition, 2017, from Stone Bridge Press ISBN   978-1611720297. ^{[12] [13]}
• 1995: Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies and Celebrations (Westminster John Knox Press) ISBN   978-0-664-25535-0.
• 1988: “We Are the Church Alive, the Church with AIDS” by Kittredge Cherry and James Mitulski, The Christian Century magazine, January 27, 1988, p. 85. Republished as a chapter in The Church with AIDS: Renewal in the Midst of Crisis by Letty M. Russell (editor), Westminster John Knox Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0664251116.

References

1. "More Light Update, March 1994, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
2. https://qspirit.net/metropolitan-community-churches/
3. Washington National Cathedral service includes prayer by Kittredge Cherry of Q Spirit
4. https://qspirit.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Matthew-Shepard_Evening-Service_120121-1.pdf Washington National Cathedral service leaflet honoring Matthew Shepard, Dec. 1, 2021
5. https://qspirit.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Matthew-Shepard-service-2023-11-30-National-Cathedral.pdf Washington National Cathedral service leaflet honoring Matthew Shepard, Nov. 30, 2023
6. Lambda Literary Awards 2007
7. Heath, Terrance (1 April 2018). "Was Jesus a queer drag king?". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
8. “Cuties and Cockroach Husbands” by Susan Chira, New York Times Book Review, Feb. 7, 1988.
9. "UI Collection Guides -Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood, 1970–2009". collguides.lib.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
10. "Pictures: Art book portrays Jesus as a gay man". PinkNews. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
11. Harrity, Christopher (25 July 2014). "ART: Gay Jesus and Woman Christ". www.advocate.com. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
12. Knight, Sophie (30 January 2017). "A woman's lowly place in Japan, mirrored in its language". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
13. Chavez, Amy (20 November 2016). "Is Japanese language becoming less discriminatory toward women?". Japan Today. Retrieved 12 May 2021.

External links

• Qspirit.net