Carol Cureton was born in a conservative Christian family in Poplar Bluff, Missouri in June 1946. She earned a degree from Southeast Missouri State University, then moved to Los Angeles, California.

In California, Cureton encountered the recently established Metropolitan Community Church. Founded by Troy Perry in 1968, the MCC was a pathbreaking denomination that taught that Christian faith could be reconciled with out-and-proud lesbian and gay identity. The MCC spread quickly across the country and was an important element of the emergent gay liberation movement.

As a lesbian who struggled with her own faith and sexuality, Cureton was drawn to the MCC and chose to pursue ministry in the church. She returned to Missouri and began working to establish an MCC congregation in St. Louis. She soon found converts. Members of the local MCC first met in rented space at Berea Presbyterian Church. Later, they purchased a building of their own, a repurposed mansion on Waterman Boulevard. This appears to be the first time that an LGBTQ community organization in the St. Louis area owned a property of its own.

During Cureton's tenure as pastor of the MCC of Greater St. Louis, the congregation became a hub of lesbian and gay community life and political organizing in the St. Louis area. Local journalists often turned to Cureton to serve as a spokesperson for the local lesbian and gay community. Cureton and the church that she pastored were at the forefront of the struggle for lesbian and gay rights in the St. Louis region.

In 1978, Cureton left her role as pastor of the MCC of Greater St. Louis and moved to Los Angeles, where she remained active in the church. In about 1998, Cureton returned to her native Poplar Bluff, Missouri.