In 2000, she founded the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a trans-denominational coalition of Christian churches who "desire to celebrate and proclaim the radically inclusive love of Jesus Christ",[7] and was appointed its Presiding Bishop in 2003.[8]
Flunder identifies as awomanist and a reconcilingliberation theologian.[9] In 2005, she authored a book,Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion.[10]Carlton Pearson cites her among the first religious leaders to embrace and encourage him after he was declared aheretic due to coming out in support ofuniversal reconciliation.[11]
In 2013, she was named as a Distinguished Alumna of the Pacific School of Religion.[7] On December 1, 2014, Flunder was a keynote speaker in theWhite House forWorld AIDS Day, where she described the harmful effects of stigma andhomophobia on those living with HIV and on AIDS education in general.[12] The following year she was a guest speaker at theAmerican Baptist College's Garnett-Nabrit Lecture Series.[13]
Bishop Flunder was raised in the "womb" of the church coming from church founding families in the Bay Area.[17]
From a young age, Flunder's life reflected her beliefs to treat people with value and equality.[17] In 1986, Flunder was moved to minister to people with HIV/AIDS in response to theepidemic of the 1980s.[18] She founded several not-for-profit enterprises in theSan Francisco Bay Area, providing services for people affected by HIV: Hazard-Ashley House, Walker House and Restoration House, through the Ark of Refuge, Inc., which later became the Y. A. Flunder Foundation.[19]
In 1991, she founded the City of Refuge under theUnited Church of Christ, "in order to unite a gospel ministry with a social ministry".[20][21] She describes the City of Refuge UCC as an effort to "create a spiritual community that will embrace our collective cultures, faith paths, gender expressions, and sexual/affectional orientations while simultaneously freeing us from oppressive theologies that subjugate women, denigrate theLGBT community, and disconnect us from justice issues locally and globally".[22] TheTranscendence Gospel Choir was a community choir affiliated with the City of Refuge and was the first all-transgender choir in the United States.[23][24]
Flunder's work expands into digital spaces. In 2021, she was a panelist for "Fire and Desire" theSmithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's Center for the Study of African American Religious Life as they discussed "Black Male Gospel Music Performance."[25]
Flunder was portrayed by actressPhylicia Rashad for the final 3-part episode as part of theDustin Lance Black mini-seriesWhen We Rise on March 3, 2017, on the major television networkABC. The Bishop's role in the show highlights the compassion of the church, the commitment of its leadership and the loving home the church provides to minister in the tough, primarily African-American community in San Francisco.[26]
Flunder is active on many social media platforms using her platforms to consistently advocate for black lives,[30] queer lives,[31] medical accessibility,[32] and destigmatization of HIV+ lives.
In 2021, Flunder was featured inPBS's "The Black Church: This is our story, this is our song."[33]
^Flunder, Yvette (2001). "Yvette Flunder". In Childers, Jana (ed.).Birthing the Sermon: Women Preachers on the Creative Process.Chalice Press. pp. 69–70.
^Flunder, Yvette (February 28, 2011)."Oral History Interview: Yvette Flunder"(PDF).LGBTRAN: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network (Interview). Interviewed by Monique Moultrie. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on July 24, 2012. RetrievedFebruary 6, 2018.
^Koenig, Harold; Weatherford, Carole; Weatherford, Ronald (2013).Somebody's Knocking at Your Door: AIDS and the African-American Church. Routledge. p. 33.
^"About Bishop Flunder"(PDF).www.cityofrefugeucc.org. City of Refuge United Church of Christ. 2015. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on September 18, 2020. RetrievedFebruary 6, 2018.
^Flunder, Yvette (2001). "Yvette Flunder". In Childers, Jana (ed.).Birthing the Sermon: Women Preachers on the Creative Process.Chalice Press. p. 68.
^abFlunder, Yvette A. (2005).Where the edge gathers : building a community of radical inclusion. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press.ISBN0-8298-1638-0.OCLC58789371.
^Pearson, Carlton (2009).The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God. Simon and Schuster. pp. 75–76.
^Brown, Vanessa."Our Presiding Bishop".www.radicallyinclusive.com. The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. Archived fromthe original on September 5, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 6, 2018.
^Flunder, Yvette (2014). "Healing Oppression Sickness". In Talvacchia, Kathleen; Larrimore, Mark; Pettinger, Michael (eds.).Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms. NYU Press. pp. 116–117.
^Kathleen T. Talvacchia; Michael F. Pettinger; Mark Larrimore, eds. (2014).Queer Christianities : Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms. New York: New York University Press.ISBN978-1-4798-1912-6.OCLC894554100.
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