EVE’S DAUGHTERS, Homosexuality and the Church from Old Dog Documentaries on Vimeo.

In warning us to “beware of Eve the temptress in any woman, even in a wife or a mother,” the Church Fathers declared all women to be descendants of the original “unsealer of that forbidden tree”–and, therefore, guilty. Worse for a woman who is homosexual. In the official Church view, she is seen as nothing less than the embodiment of “an intrinsic moral evil.” These daughters of Eve are the subjects of this documentary.

Hoping to regain the love of parents who no longer believe that she will be joining them in heaven, Coni recalls the fruitless bargaining with God. Katherine, thinking she was cursed for falling in love with a woman, pleads with God for acceptance and understanding, only to be thrown out of her church when the relationship is discovered. And Lisa, her whole life a path of preparation for the Christian ministry, is finally and formally told by her denomination’s august gathering of judges (including the pastor from her parents’ home church): “There’s no room for you in the family of God.”

We share their pain and heartache; and yet, ultimately, the stories these women tell are celebrations in the struggle for knowledge, courage, and self-affirmation. Victoria, after leaving the convent, “knew in that moment of kissing another woman that things suddenly fell into place.” And when Nancy came out after 25 years of serving faithfully as a pastor’s wife, “It was like coming home; it was like this is where I should have been all of my life.” Returning like refugees from spiritual exile, they witness through art and poetry to the freedom and compassion that arise from the fusion of body and soul. They call upon the church not only “to repent of its homophobia,” but also “to celebrate the deep spiritual gifts” they have because they are lesbians.

“Eve’s Daughters is a rich and subtle treatment of the lives of five creative, spiritual women whom their religious communities should covet for leadership. More such stories need to be told so that the vital contributions of lesbian women of various faiths can be seen and imitated.”
— Mary E. Hunt, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual