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LA Dodgers Invite, Disinvite, Re-Invite Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Pride Night Celebration [1]
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Date: 2023-05-23
On Tuesday, May 23, while San Francisco was celebrating the incredible life and accomplishments of legendary drag performer Heklina at both a sold-out memorial at the Castro Theatre and an outdoor event, legislative assaults against drag performers continue to multiply across the country.
And in a “thought it couldn’t happen here” incident, the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, responding to right-wing pressure, rescinded its invitation to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group founded in San Francisco in 1979. The Sisters use drag and satire to fundraise for underserved communities.
After a week of feeling the heat, the Dodgers apologized and re-invited the group.
As the San Francisco Chronicle’s sports columnist Ann Killion reported, honoring the Sisters was supposed to be part of Pride Night at Dodger Stadium. Pride Nights, are annual celebrations of the LGBTQ community, and they make perfect sense since teams “have a whole lot of tickets to sell for 81 home games,” and Pride Night is just one of many different themed nights.
Instead, the Dodgers capitulated to pressure from Catholic groups and “from Florida [Republican] Senator Marco Rubio of all people,” Killion noted.
Over the years, conservative Catholic groups have pilloried the Sisters fro their parodied performances -- exposing bigotry, complacency and hypocrisy -- while dressed like nuns.
In Killion’s column she noted that “Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez speculated that if Dodgers president Stan Kasten ran the team when Jackie Robinson was about to break the color barrier, Kasten might have sent Robinson back to the minor leagues, ‘citing the ‘strong feelings of the people who have been offended’ by Robinson’s inclusion on the roster.”
“Being on the right side of history requires a backbone,” Hernandez wrote, “and this version of the Dodgers doesn’t have one.”
In a column headlined “Drag Queens more Christian than conservatives,” the San Francisco Chronicle’s Tony Bravo pointed out that the Sisters “are famous for creating an outrageous drag take on the vestments and traditions of the Catholic Church. In San Francisco, they’re known for fundraising events like their Easter ‘Hunky Jesus’ pageant and ‘Project Nunway’ fashion show.” Sisters groups around the world raise money for LGBTQ causes, including HIV-AIDS awareness.
After a week of receiving heat from the community, the Dodgers apologized to the Sisters and re-extended its invitation to honor them. In a statement released May 22, the organization said:
After much thoughtful feedback from our
diverse communities, hones conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters …, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families.
We have asked the Sisters … to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Prode Night on June 16th. We are pleased to share that they have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades.
In accepting the re-invitation, Sister Bearonce Knows said, “one of the things we wanted to communicate to them was that a simple apology and re-invitation would not be enough. We, as well as the rest of our community, want to ensure that this is genuine and that they are taking the right steps to reconfirm their allyship with us.”
As the Chronicle’s Bravo deliciously wrote, the Sisters are certainly doing the “Lord’s work.” He quoted Sister Roma saying: “Let’s keep score, how many priests have been accused of sexual abuse versus how many Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence? I think the record stands for itself if you want to talk about groomers.”
Sister Roma added: There’s nothing any Sister or any other queer group could do that could compare to the oppression, the wars, the misogyny, the homophobia, the pain the Catholic Church has caused.”
Axios San Francisco pointed out that “Heklina, who rose to fame after becoming a staple of San Francisco nightlife beginning in the 1990s, died in April while on tour in London. She was 55. Titled ‘Heklina: A Memorial (She Would Have Hated This),’ the remembrance will include an outdoor telecast of the indoor memorial as well as a two-hour drag show hosted by local drag queens LOL McFiercen and Dulce De Leche.”
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