The Los Angeles Dodgers reversed its decision to disinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an LGBTQ+ drag-performance group that co-opts Catholic imagery, from its “Pride Night.” The team will give its “Community Hero Award” to the Los Angeles chapter.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was founded in 1979 by “Sister Vicious PHB,” “Reverend Mother,” “Missionary Position,” and “Hysterectoria-Agnes” and is credited as being among the earliest users of the phrase “safe sex.” The group claims to have produced “the world’s first fundraiser benefit for an AIDS organization” in 1981. The organization is a self-described “Order of queer and trans nuns” and the four stages to becoming a recognized “Sister” include “Volunteer,” “Postulant,” “Novice Sister,” and “Fully Professed.”
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence annually host a “Foxy Mary and Hunky Jesus” contest on Easter Sunday and a “Project Nunway” charity fashion event. An estimated 10,000 people attended the 2023 “Hunky Jesus” Easter event in San Francisco, which featured pole dancing on a cross.
“Do you believe that the Los Angeles Dodgers are being ‘inclusive and welcoming to everyone’ by giving an award to a group of gay and transgender drag performers that intentionally mocks and degrades Christians—and not only Christians, but nuns, who devote their lives to serving others?,” Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) wrote in a May 15 letter to Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred.
The Dodgers released a statement on May 17 disinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from its 10th annual Pride Night, which is scheduled for June 16.
“We are now aware that our inclusion of one group in particular – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – in this year’s pride night has been the source of some controversy,” the statement reads. “Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees.”
The San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence released a statement on May 18 expressing “deep offense and outrage” with the baseball team’s decision.
“The Dodgers capitulated in response to hateful and misleading information from people outside their community, who target not only the LGBTQ++ community but also women’s autonomy over their bodies, people and communities of color, and other faiths and nationalities,” the statement opens.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center withdrew from the Dodgers’ Pride Night event, arguing that the team was “buckling to pressure from out-of-state, right-wing fundamentalists.”
“If the decision is not reversed, we strongly encourage the Dodgers to cancel Pride Night. Any organization that turns its back on LGBTQ+ people at this damning and dangerous inflection point in our nation’s history should not be hoisting a rainbow flag or hosting a ‘Pride Night,’” the Los Angeles LGBT Center wrote on May 18.
The Dodgers reversed the decision to disinvite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the drag organization agreed to accept the team’s “Community Hero Award.”
“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest 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 of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” the team announced.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 22, 2023
The Dodgers’ staff offered a “full apology and explanation” to the drag performance group, according to a separate statement issued by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.