Dodgers Reverse Course, Will Include Drag Group In LGBTQ Pride Night

Topline

The Los Angeles Dodgers issued an apology Monday evening and reversed its decision to revoke an invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity that uses religious-themed drag, from its Pride Night after facing backlash from local politicians and other groups set to appear at the event, some of whom threatened to pull out if the Sisters weren’t included.

LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium on June 11, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Jerritt Clark/Getty Images

Key Facts

The Dodgers will host its tenth annual Pride Night on June 16, featuring activities before and after the team plays the San Francisco Giants and honors LGBTQ organizations and advocates.

The Los Angeles chapter of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence—a charity that raises money for LGBTQ causes and performs in in drag dressed as nuns—accepted the Dodgers’ reinvitation and will receive the Community Hero Award in honor of their community service and promotion of human rights.

The Dodgers previously announced it would remove the Sisters from its honorees on Wednesday, citing the “strong feelings of people who have been offended by the Sisters’ inclusion.”

The conservative Catholic advocacy group CatholicVote, among the fiercest critics of the Sisters, accused the group of “anti-Catholic hate” for dressing in “sexualized perversions of religious garb,” and demanded that the Dodgers rescind their honor, suggesting that all baseball teams cancel pride events.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also called for the Sisters to be removed from the event, criticizing its members as “men who dress in lewd imitation of Roman Catholic nuns.”

The decision to remove the Sisters sparked fierce criticism from other groups affiliated with Pride Night, including L.A. Pride, which announced it would no longer participate in the Dodgers’ event.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California also pulled out of the Dodgers Pride Night, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center demanded the event be canceled unless the organization reinvites the Sisters.

The San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence chapter voiced its “offense and outrage” at the removal of the Los Angeles chapter on Thursday, alleging that the “Dodgers capitulated in response to hateful and misleading information from people outside their community.”

The Dodgers pledged to “work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves” and credited “thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities” for their decision to reinvite the Sisters.

Key Background

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence launched in San Francisco on Easter Sunday in 1979 and states its mission is “community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.” The Sisters reportedly raised more than $1 million for LGBTQ causes in San Francisco alone in its first three decades of operation. The Sisters have previously been the target of controversy and anti-Catholic accusations, including among San Francisco clergy members who have condemned their portrayals of religious figures. The Sisters also led Reno, Nevada’s first Pride Parade in 1999, but then Gov. Kenny Guinn (R-Nev.) said he had heard complaints about the group and refused to sign a proclamation for the parade. In another instance, The Catholic Voice cited in its complaint to the Dodgers, two members of the Sisters received communion from a San Francisco archbishop in 2007. The archbishop did not initially identify them as members of the Sisters, but later condemned them for “mocking the Catholic Church in general and religious women in particular.” The Sisters have pushed back on accusations they are anti-religion. “The Sisters are not anti-Catholic, but an organization based on love, acceptance and celebrating human diversity,” the group’s president, Sister Rosie, wrote in a statement.

Chief Critics

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who is gay, called the Dodgers’ exclusion of the Sisters “shameful” and accused the organization of trying to “divide and separate our community,” calling for a boycott of Pride Night. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) accused the Dodgers of turning their back on the LGBTQ community, tweeting: “I’m a Catholic AND I support the LGBTQ+ community. You can be both.” Gomez urged the Dodgers to take a firmer stance in support of LGBTQ rights, citing Disney’s feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), which escalated last year after the company denounced the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law. The ACLU Southern California chapter criticized the Dodgers as no longer being “champions of inclusion” as they were when they signed Jackie Robinson in 1947, the first Black major league baseball player in the modern era. “Seventy-six years later, they take a giant step backward banning a long-standing drag charity,” ACLU SoCal tweeted.

Tangent

The backlash places the Dodgers square in the middle of ongoing controversies over companies and their outreach to the LGBTQ community, which have in recent months included Bud Light and Nike. Bud Light faced fierce criticism from far-right pundits and social media users, as well as a dip in sales, after it sent Dylan Mulvaney, a TikTok star known for documenting her gender transition, a customized beer can. Musicians Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and John Rich condemned Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch, and Mulvaney’s advertising campaign with Nike sparked similar outrage from Olympic athletes Sharron Davies and Caitlyn Jenner. These controversies are occurring amid an onslaught of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community: The ACLU has identified 482 bills introduced in state legislatures this year as anti-LGBTQ, including many that seek to limit gender-affirming care for transgender youth and education of gender and sexuality in schools. Drag performers have also come under attack as some states move to ban or limit drag performances in public spaces and indignant conservatives protest outside Drag Story Hour events.

Crucial Quote

“Our work speaks for us. We do not serve to receive awards or accolades,” the Los Angeles chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence wrote on Instagram Thursday. “While we may no longer appear at Dodgers Pride Night we will be out on the streets of Los Angeles continuing to serve and uplift our community.”