Lynice M. Pinkard

Lynice Pinkard was born in Santa Barbara, CA to the late Rev. Daniel Pinkard and Marquita Kinkard. She grew up in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri and finished high school at Skyline High School in Oakland, California.

As a result of her rich heritage in the A. M. E. church and the witness of her parents’ commitment to social justice and community service, very early in her life, Lynice developed a keen awareness of and sensitivity to the ways in which disparities of power and forms of oppression affect the quality of the lives of many people in America and around the world. For the past twenty years, Rev. Pinkard has dedicated her life to the work of ministry: pastoring, community organizing and engagement, writing, advocacy, counseling and healing.

Lynice received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampton University, and holds Master of Divinity and Master of Arts degrees from the Pacific School of Religion, as well as a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from California State University, Hayward. Much of her research and scholarship has focused on the intersection of gender, racial, and spiritual identity, and she has paid particular attention to issues of homo-negativity in Black church and community contexts, to the psycho-social impact of internalized homophobia on African American l/g/b/t/qs, and to ways that African American l/g/g/b/t/qs can achieve an integration of positive spiritual and sexual identities.

Lynice Pinkard is a practicing family therapist and Program Development Specialist for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She also serves as Associate Pastor of First Congregational Church of Oakland. Rev. Pinkard was a founding elder and former Associate Pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ.