LOS ANGELES – Amid the revelry at the LA Pride Parade on Sunday, two men who call themselves nuns stood on the upper level of an open-top bus and delighted the crowd.
One wore a shower curtain as part of a makeshift nun’s habit and held a rubber chicken. The other wore a nun’s head-covering fashioned in part out of a stuffed bra.
They are part of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a satirical drag group whose members wear extravagant makeup and will be honored Friday at Dodger Stadium during the team’s Pride Night.
The group’s Los Angeles chapter will receive the Community Hero Award over the objections of critics such as Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and a Republican presidential candidate; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); and multiple bishops who have accused the Sisters of blasphemy.
Retorts Sister Unity, who wore the shower curtain, “We’re here, we’re queer, so get used to it.”
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But the Sisters are bracing for protests on Friday from members of Church Militant, a right-wing fringe group and others mobilized by the controversy, as well as detractors who have zeroed in on the Dodgers, too.
Following backlash from the Catholic community, the Dodgers on May 17 pulled the invitation from the Sisters. Five days later, the Dodgers issued and again extended the invitation.
The Sisters declined to provide their real names out of safety concerns. They said they’ve received threats of violence but largely embrace what has transpired. As Sister Lida Christ, who wore the stuffed bra, said, “It’s an opportunity to tell the truth.”
Why they call themselves nuns
Ken Bunch, who helped start the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, is responsible for the nuns’ habits, the traditionally black-and-white religious clothing.
He first used the habits with head coverings in the 1970s as part of his touring drag show in Iowa City. He took the habits with him in 1979 when he moved to San Francisco.
“This will be my insurance against boredom,” he said he remembers thinking of the habits.
Sure enough, boredom set in. So Bunch and two other young gay friends put on the habits and makeup, journeyed into the streets of San Francisco and, according to Bunch, got an “amazing reaction everywhere we went.”
That fall, Bunch co-founded the original order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, distinguished by its nuns garb, white makeup and a mission to “promulgate universal joy and expatiate stigmatic guilt.”
“We honor and emulate Catholic nuns,” said Bunch, 71, who also goes by Sister Vish-Knew. “We honor the work they do in the community because we do the same thing. We’re just queer nuns.”
The group’s first fundraiser was a bingo night for gay Cuban refugees. In 1982, the Sisters produced a safer-sex pamphlet in an effort to fight AIDS.
Bunch added, “We’ve taken a symbol of oppression and turned it into something positive. Because the Christian church has oppressed LGBT people for centuries. So we transform a negative image into a positive image and use it to serve the community.
“That image of a nun is so iconic, and then when you use it to transform people’s experiences, it’s powerful. A stick of dynamite.”
Who are these Sisters?
According to the Sisters, the group of about 50 members is as colorful as the Pride Flag. White, brown and Black. Men and women. Every letter of LGBTQ represented. Of course, that can be hard to tell when they’ve applied their makeup.
“We look like clowns,” Sister Electra said, “but we’re a legit non-profit.”
Founded in 1995, the Los Angeles chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is registered as a tax-exempt organization and one of more than 50 chapters across the country. According to its mission statement, the L.A. chapter raises funds and provides community support “for underserved and underprivileged people and organizations mostly within the LGBTQIA+ communities.”
The original group was founded in San Francisco in 1979, when the colorful nuns hit the streets and handed out safer-sex brochures during the AIDS epidemic.
Last weekend offered a glimpse of what the L.A.-based chapter does.
On Friday, the Sisters held a candlelight vigil for nearly 2,500 people participating in the AIDS/Lifecycle, an annual bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises millions of dollars to help fund the work of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
“It’s always moving, this year in particular because of the attacks the Sisters have been under,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
On Saturday, the Sisters set up a booth at Dyke Day L.A. People lined up for blessings the Sisters provide.
“May you know that you are made of love and joy,” Sister Harlot D Lite said as she smushed glitter on the forehead of a woman and the woman’s dog.
On Sunday, there was the parade, with the rubber chicken and the shower curtain and the stuffed bra.
“If you’re not having fun,” said Sister Unity, co-founder of the L.A. chapter, “then you’re not doing it right.”
Verbal abuse at Angel Stadium
After the Sisters were initially dumped by the Dodgers, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken tweeted an invitation for the Sisters to join her at Angel Stadium on June 7 for the team’s Pride Night.
Six Sisters attended the Angels game and were greeted by protesters in the parking lot, according to Sister Electra.
After the on-field Pride Night ceremony, the Sisters headed up the concourse to the mayor’s suite. They encountered verbal abuse from men who called them “freaks” and “pedophiles,” according to Sister Electra.
“It was a little scary,” she said.
Because of the experience, Sister Electra said, she and other Sisters are uncertain whether they’ll attend Pride Night at Dodger Stadium. But Sister Unity said there’s no question she’ll attend.
“I am prepared to go even if there are threats,” she said.
The Sisters and the Dodgers
The Dodgers’ handling of the matter has been baffling in light of the team’s history.
Erik Braverman, senior vice president of marketing, communications and broadcasting, is gay and in 2022 got married on the field at Dodger Stadium.
Billie Jean King, the legendary tennis player who is gay, has an ownership stake with the team. So does Magic Johnson, who has offered public support of his son EJ, who is gay.
Of the Dodgers, Sister Unity said, “I thought they were a model for other corporations in how if you make an error that alienates a core constituency that you committed yourself to, that they did very good reparative work. I mean, the key was signing on to have a continuing relationship with us and with the gay community. …
“It’s not certainly worth us withdrawing or anything because it’s such an important moment for the L.A. community to know all of its pieces, including us and our community.”
The Dodgers did not respond to requests for comment sent by email.
Breaking out the Dodger Blue
For the Sisters, the traditional nuns garb quickly gave way to what’s seen today: colorful habits, gaudy jewelry and garish makeup.
Sister Unity explained:
“There is room in the world to be who you are, as you are with no shame and guilt for your existence, and joy and love for your own self.”
But on occasion, Sister Unity will make concessions. Such as Friday night, when the Dodgers play their archrivals, the San Francisco Giants.
“I always wear orange, for 27 years,” Sister Unity said. “However, orange is the Giants’ color.”
And so the sister has been hand-sewing a special Dodger Blue habit and veil for Friday.
“It will be festooned with red ribbons to represent our service in fighting HIV/AIDS, and to support our community members fighting the disease in their own lives,” said Sister Unity, hopeful that some unity will be found Friday night.
