Eve Tushnet

{{Short description|American lesbian Catholic writer (born 1978)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Eve Tushnet

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1978}}

| birth_place =

| nationality = American

| education = Yale University (BA){{cite web |title=People |url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/eve-tushnet |website=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs |publisher=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs |access-date=1 July 2021}}

| occupation = {{hlist | Author | blogger}}

| years_active =

| spouse =

| parents = {{hlist | Elizabeth Alexander | Mark Tushnet}}

| website =

}}

Eve Tushnet (born 1978) is an American lesbian Roman Catholic author, blogger, and speaker. In addition to authoring fiction and nonfiction books, she has a blog and writes regularly for several major magazines, among them The American Spectator, Commonweal, National Catholic Register, National Review, America Magazine,{{Cite web |title=Voices: Eve Tushnet |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/eve-tushnet |access-date=August 22, 2022 |website=America Magazine}} and The Washington Blade.

Background

Her father is Mark Tushnet, a professor at Harvard Law School. Her mother, Elizabeth Alexander, directs the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. Her sister Rebecca Tushnet is also a professor at Harvard Law School.{{Cite web|title=Rebecca Tushnet's 43(B)log|url=https://tushnet.blogspot.com/|access-date=2020-07-17|website=tushnet.blogspot.com}}

Tushnet came out as a lesbian around age 13 or 14 and her family was supportive. She entered Yale University in 1996 as "a happy lesbian". Raised in a secular Jewish household, she converted to Catholicism in 1998 at age 19 during her sophomore year. After college, she joined the National Catholic Register. She was also a researcher at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank.{{Cite web |title=Author biography |url=https://www.crisismagazine.com/author/tushnet |access-date=August 23, 2022 |website=Crisis Magazine}}

Views

Tushnet is celibate due to the Catholic Church's teaching on sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

Throughout Tushnet's writing career on Christianity and sexuality, she has often referenced forms of nonsexual intimacy available to gay (and all) Catholics, such as Christian traditions of sworn kinship and covenant friendship. As Scriptural basis, she references the positive Biblical examples of non-marital same-sex love such as Ruth and Naomi, David and Jonathan, or Jesus and John. {{cite web | last = Tushnet | first = Eve | title = An Alternative History of Gay Liberation: Covenant and Care | website = commonwealmagazine.org | publisher = Commonweal | date = October 24, 2024 | url = https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/alternative-history-gay-liberation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250216063817/https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/alternative-history-gay-liberation-History-Project-Transcript-Tushnet-Interview.pdf | archive-date = February 16, 2025 | access-date = May 6, 2025}} Her writing often focuses on how Catholic living and lesbianism can coexist and positively affect one another. "I really think the most important thing is, I really like being gay and I really like being Catholic," she said in a 2010 interview with The New York Times. "If nobody ever calls me self-hating again, it will be too soon."

Tushnet was active in politics speaking against same-sex marriage, having stated that marriage should be reserved for heterosexuals, whose "relationships can be either uniquely dangerous or uniquely fruitful. Thus it makes sense to have an institution dedicated to structuring and channeling them."

In 2022, Tushnet said that she regretted her involvement in anti-gay-marriage organizing, stating that she wants there to be more expansive, non-marital forms of legal kinship available, and that the government should provide legal protection for people who are loving and caring for each other. {{cite web | last = Cieslik | first = Emma | last2 = Tushnet | first2 = E. | title = Queer and Catholic: A CLGS Oral History Project | website =clgs.psr.edu | publisher = Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion | date = August 8, 2022 | url = https://www.clgs.psr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CLGS-Catholic-Oral-History-Project-Transcript-Tushnet-Interview.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240707134118/https://www.clgs.psr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CLGS-Catholic-Oral-History-Project-Transcript-Tushnet-Interview.pdf | archive-date = July 7, 2024 | access-date = April 13, 2024}}

Bibliography

= Non-fiction =

{{cite book |author=Tushnet, Eve |title=Gay and Catholic : accepting my sexuality, finding community, living my faith |date=2014 }}
{{cite book |editor=Tushnet, Eve |title=Christ's Body, Christ's Wounds: Staying Catholic When You've Been Hurt in the Church |publisher= Cascade Books |date=2018 }}
{{cite book |author=Tushnet, Eve |title=Tenderness : a gay Christian's guide to unlearning rejection and experiencing God's extravagant love |location= |publisher= |date=2021 }}

= Novels =

{{cite book |author=Tushnet, Eve |title=Amends : a novel |location= |publisher= |date=2015 }}
{{cite book |author=Tushnet, Eve |author-mask=1 |title=Punishment : a love story |location= |publisher= |date=2019 }}

= Short fiction =

;Stories

class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'
width=25%\|Title !\|Year !\|First published !\|Reprinted/collected !\|Notes
A story like mine \|2009 \|{{cite journal \|author=Tushnet, Eve \|date=July 2009 \|title=A story like mine \|journal=Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet \|volume=24}} \| \|

class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'

width=25%|Title

!|Year

!|First published

!|Reprinted/collected

!|Notes

A story like mine

|2009

|{{cite journal |author=Tushnet, Eve |date=July 2009 |title=A story like mine |journal=Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet |volume=24}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web|url=http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/gay-and-catholic-interview-author-eve-tushnet |title='Gay and Catholic': An Interview with Author Eve Tushnet |date=July 3, 2014 |publisher=America Magazine |access-date=March 21, 2015}}

{{cite news | url = http://cuatower.com/cua-on-tap-gay-and-catholic/ | title = CUA on Tap: "Gay and Catholic" | first = Rachel | last = Gallagher | date = March 8, 2017 | access-date = March 9, 2017 | publisher = The Tower | location = Washington, DC }}

{{cite web|url=http://blogs.denverpost.com/hark/2012/05/16/eve-tushnet-catholic-homosexuality/171/ |title=Eve Tushnet, a gay Catholic woman, talks of serving in the church |publisher=Blogs.denverpost.com |date=May 16, 2012 |access-date=March 21, 2015}}

{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/us/05beliefs.html | title = A Gay Catholic Voice Against Same-Sex Marriage | first = Mark | last = Oppenheimer | date = June 4, 2010 | access-date = March 9, 2017 | work = New York Times }}

{{cite news|last=Boorstein |first=Michelle |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gay-christians-choosing-celibacy-emerge-from-the-shadows/2014/12/13/51c73aea-6ab2-11e4-9fb4-a622dae742a2_story.html |title=Gay Christians choosing celibacy emerge from the shadows |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 13, 2014 |access-date=March 21, 2015}}

{{cite web|last=Tushnet|first=Eve|title=Rich Dad, Poor Dad|url=http://spectator.org/articles/57891/rich-dad-poor-dad|publisher=The American Spectator|access-date=February 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228133318/http://spectator.org/articles/57891/rich-dad-poor-dad|archive-date=February 28, 2014|url-status=dead}}

}}