Last Updated on December 1, 2023 by Kittredge Cherry
Freda Smith was a pioneering lesbian pastor, LGBTQ activist and the first woman ordained in Metropolitan Community Churches. She died on Dec. 3, 2019, at age 84 after suffering a stroke. She was known for her memorable speeches advocating for and affirming women and LGBTQ people.
Mary Alfreda Smith was born on Nov. 22, 1935, in Pocatello, Idaho. Her parents moved there from Depression-era Oklahoma shortly before she was born. With a Nazarene and Salvation Army background, she struggled to reconcile her with faith with her lesbianism until she realized that God didn’t want to change her sexual orientation.
She earned a master’s degree at California State University at Sacramento and became a licensed marriage and family therapist. She was active in Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. After his assassination in 1968 (but before the Stonewall Uprising), she came out publicly as a lesbian feminist. Her activism brought her in contact with Metropolitan Community Churches, the first LGBTQ-affirming denomination. She joined in 1972, becoming MCC’s first clergywoman. At the denomination’s 1973 General Conference, she became the first woman elected elder. She was survived by Kathleen Meadows, her life partner since 1974.
Freda Smith, left, and her life partner Kathleen Meadows, met in 1974. Here they are together 44 years later in their home on Jan. 12, 2018. Photo courtesy of Lauren Bennett.
Smith’s life story is told in in the illustrated book “Heavenly LGBTQ+: Queer Icons from LGBTQ Life, Religion, and History” by Jan Haen, a Dutch artist and priest. He includes this image of Freda Smith and Kathleen Meadows. It is the sequel to his 2022 graphic non-fiction book “Heavenly Homos, Etc..”
Freda is legendary for Purple Grass and more
Her 1971 speech at the California State Capitol in Sacramento is included in “Speaking for Our Lives: Historic Speeches and Rhetoric for Gay and Lesbian Rights (1892-2000).” Smith was the last speaker at the end of a march to legalize homosexuality on June 25, 1971. Led by MCC founder Troy Perry, the march supported AB437, a state bill legalizing homosexual acts in private between consenting adults. Smith’s climactic speech made a big impact. “Contemporary reportage by ‘The Advocate’ describes this as one of the two most militant addresses given at the rally,” the book states. The speech is available online at this link.
Smith is legendary in MCC for inclusifying all the pronouns in the MCC bylaws. At the 1973 General Conference, she stood up EVERY TIME that there was a gender-specific word such as “he” in the bylaws and petitioned for it to be changed to an inclusive form such as “he and she.”
Smith speaks out for more equitable pronouns in an illustration from “Heavenly LGBTQ+” by Jan Haen.
Smith is also well known for her narrative poem, “Dear Dora, Dangerous Derek Diesel Dyke: An American Tragedy,” which she read to the California State legislature in the early 1970s and at countless churches since then.
Her signature sermon was “Purple Grass,” about a lamb that was rejected by society because it liked eating purple grass instead of the usual green grass. Then the Good Shepherd searched out the lamb and assured it of God’s unfailing love. The story was expanded into the book “Purple Grass” by Denny Hamann.
News of her death was met with many loving comments on social media with references to her sermon, such as:
“Your spirit now lives among the Purple Grass.”
“I know you now graze in the Purple Grass of heaven.”
“Go sing with the angels and run through the fields of Purple Grass.”
A personal memory of Freda Smith
One of my most vivid memories of Freda was in 1993, when she was one of the elders who laid hands on me during my ordination service. It’s a bit hard to see in this photo, but Freda is on the right with a rainbow stole. Thank you, Freda!
Ordination of Kittredge Cherry, July 1993 at MCC General Conference, Phoenix, Arizona. Ordination was done through laying on of hands by the elders. Elders pictured with me are, from left, Revs. Jean White, Don Eastman and Freda Smith. My life partner Audrey stands beside me on the far right.
Resources and tributes to Freda Smith
MCC Mourns the Passing of Rev. Elder Freda Smith (Official announcement from Metropolitan Community Churches)
Freda Smith’s own website (now archived)
Rev. Elder Freda Smith | Oral History (LGBTQ Religious Archives Network)
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in December 2019, was expanded with new material over time, and was most recently updated on Dec. 1, 2023.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
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