On May 17th (a.k.a. literally the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia), the L.A. Dodgers announced that they had disinvited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from an upcoming Pride charity event. The sisterhood is, according to their website, a group of “queer and trans nuns” devoted to “community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.”
In the Dodgers’ official statement, they said that the sisterhood’s inclusion “has been the source of some controversy” and “[g]iven the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisterhood’s inclusion in our evening… we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees.” Rolling Stone reports that the Dodgers were caving to pressure from conservatives, specifically Marco Rubio, who penned an open letter to the Dodgers about the sisterhood.
While this is not a legislative ban in the vein of Tenneseee, it goes to show that drag groups in blue states are not safe from persecution, especially from larger businesses that can have pressure put upon them by out-of-state conservative politicians and consumers. Yes, the sisterhood has been “controversial,” but that’s because it was revolutionary and reclaimed aspects of Catholicism (namely nuns and charity work) and put a pro-LGBTQ twist on them. All aspects of queer identity are controversial because being queer is controversial—but only to people no one should want to align with.
Unfortunately, this is a larger symptom of Rainbow Capitalism, where these large corporations want to capitalize on the queer market but don’t actually want to engage with that base and risk alienating their conservative market, so they say, “We’re pro-gay … but only a certain type of gay.”
This is the equivalent of divide and conquer—isolate one group to make it easier to attack.
How to support our queens
Thankfully, many queer folks and allies are rallying behind the Sisterhood, pointing out that the Sisterhood was part of some of the original pride movements and was vital during the AIDS crisis.
Still, this highlights the importance of standing together as a community. No matter what state we live in, we’re all at risk and we cannot become complacent. We’re not free until we’re all free. No matter the differences in identity, background, or location, we have to stick together, or else they’ll tear us apart.
To donate, attend an event, or learn more about the sisterhood, go to TheSisters.org. Even if you can’t donate, try to get involved in your local drag community. They need our support now more than ever.
(featured image: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
