Сестры Вечного Искупления: История ЛГБТ-активизма в Сан-Франциско

Gay activist group founded in San Francisco

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality (particularly Christian perspectives on these topics) and fundraise for charity. In 1979, a small group of gay men in San Francisco began wearing the attire of Catholic nuns in visible situations using camp to promote various social and political causes in the Castro District. From the original organization in San Francisco, the Sisters have grown throughout the U. S., Canada, Australia, Europe, and South America, and are now an international network of autonomous orders. These orders are mostly registered as non profit charity organizations that raise money for AIDS, LGBT related causes, and mainstream community service organizations, while promoting safer sex and educating others about the harmful effects of drug use and other high risk behaviors. They have also protested many Christian, and specifically Catholic, events perceived as anti LGBT, including the visit of Pope John Paul II to the United States. Throughout the movement's history there have been a number of conflicts with Christian communities. The group has been characterized by several Catholic clergy, organizations and laypeople (such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights) as anti Catholic and a hate group for impersonating and mocking Catholic practices and beliefs, including religious sisters. By 1977, between 100,000 and 200,000 had moved to San Francisco from all over the United States, changing the political and cultural profile of the city. The Castro was also known for the outrageous characters who were 1970s mainstays, such as Jesus Christ Satan and The Cosmic Lady, who endeared themselves to local residents with their unique perspectives, particularly during street events such as the Castro Street Fair and Halloween in the Castro. At the same time, religious participation in politics appeared in the late 1970s with the activism of Anita Bryant, and Jerry Falwell's establishment of the Moral Majority. The Castro District had been publicized nationally as a major gay neighborhood and was targeted by evangelists who took weekly trips to loudly preach to the residents about the immorality of homosexuality. On April 14, 1979 (Saturday of Easter weekend), three men (Ken Bunch, Fred Brungard, and a friend) dressed as nuns with habits, that Bunch had acquired several years before, walked through the Castro. Later Bunch and Burngard with a different friend, Agnes de Garron a. k. a. Edmund Garron, appeared at a gay softball game in habit and with pom poms. At the annual Castro Street Fair on August 19, 1979, Sister Adhanarisvara (Bunch) and Sister Missionary Position (Brungard) along with Sister Solicitation (de Garron) and Reverend Mother, the Abbess (Bill Graham) announced the order and started recruiting. Later that year de Garron designed habits for the members while the group discussed what to do. Initially they made postcards and greeting cards depicting them in their habits which they handed out with a requested donation to cover costs. Either at the end of 1979 or beginning of 1980, the group decided on a name, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Their first protest as an official order was joining an anti nuclear march in March 1980 with habits and pom poms and reciting their "Rosary in Time of Nuclear Peril". In August 1980 they confronted the evangelists, a dozen men dressed in 14th century Belgian nun's robes and habits, and according to one participant, Sister Missionary Position, "a teensy bit of make up so as not to be dowdy on a Friday night", met the evangelists at Harvey Milk Plaza. One recited a litany asking among other things for "mercy on the self righteous who take away our liberty". The evangelist left but then returned in a larger group to be met by the sisters dancing and reciting the litany. The next day at a larger evangelical event including a Christian band the sisters joined in the dancing and flirted with the evangelists. In October 1980, the dozen or so Sisters held their first fundraiser, a bingo game and a disco and salsa dance that was well attended in large part because of the write up in The San Francisco Chronicle by Herb Caen the same day, who printed their organization name, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The benefit was for San Francisco's Metropolitan Community Church gay Cuban refugee program, and it netted $1,500 ($ in 2022).

Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence include people who identify with a variety of sexual orientations and genders, although the majority are gay men. Joining an order mirrors the steps for joining an actual order of nuns. Potential members are encouraged to attend organizational meetings as aspirants, and told that if they are not intending to make a lifelong commitment they should seriously reconsider. After their inception, the Sisters soon spread to other cities within the U. S. as a loosely connected network of mostly autonomous houses. There are thirteen houses and six missions in various cities across the U. S. Globally, 600 members work for established houses or missions in Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay. Chapters founded outside the United States would also become involved in local issues. Whilst the United Kingdom chapter was involved in protests against police hostility towards the lesbian and gay community and safe sex education, the chapter was also involved in campaigning unrelated to LGBT+ issues, such as protests against Poll Tax, the Gulf War, and the 1984–85 UK miners' strike. The San Francisco Founding House anchors much of the activities and continues to be the largest and most well funded. The San Francisco House (SPI, Inc.) also holds the registered trademarks for "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" and the "laughing nun head" logo. Only in San Francisco could the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence not only make their first appearance, but become interwoven in the cultural and political fabric of the city, according to scholar Cathy Glenn in the journal Theory and Event.

The organization of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence occurred at the same time HIV/AIDS began appearing in the Castro District and New York City. Safe havens during this crisis came in the form of bars such Maud's and Amelia's, which were shut down, as during the AIDS crisis many people believed bars were places were everyone had AIDS or could get it very easily. Some of the earliest attempts to bring attention to the new disease were staged by the Sisters, both in and out of costume. In 1982, Sister Florence Nightmare, RN (early AIDS activist and registered nurse Bobbi Campbell) and Sister Roz Erection (Baruch Golden, a registered nurse) joined with a team of Sisters and medical professionals to create "Play Fair! ", the first safer sex pamphlet to use plain language, practical advice and humor, and considered by one of the founders to be "one of the Order's greatest achievements in community education and support". In 1999, for the Sisters' 20th anniversary the pamphlet was revised. The Sisters worldwide continue to raise awareness of sexual health; many Orders regularly pass out condoms and participate in events to educate people on sexual health issues. Losing several members to AIDS in the early 1980s, the Sisters were present at the 1986 Castro Street Fair with less than a dozen members, who sponsored a fund raising and safer sex education booth that featured pie throwing with the slogan "Cream yer Sister, not yer lover!" Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who have died are referred by the Sisters as "Nuns of the Above". Specific losses due to AIDS are recorded in the folk art NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Created in the 1985 the quilt has made history several times. It was featured at the 1996 NAMES quilt display in Washington, D. C. in front of the U. S. House of Representatives and was among the first quilts viewed by then Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper Gore and later featured in the NAMES Projects' calendar worldwide. The Nuns of The Above quilt itself has been flown around the United States and is in high demand for local displays. While in town for the AIDS Memorial Quilt display the Sisters led an exorcism of homophobia, classism, and racism on the steps of the United States House of Representatives, and assisted with the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) death march and protest, to the gates of the White House where ashes of people who had died from AIDS were illegally spread on the lawn.

Once founded in 1979, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence attracted local attention by attending major LGBT events in the Castro District dressed as Catholic nuns. In 1982, Jack Fertig, known as Sister Boom Boom, ran for San Francisco Board of Supervisors earning over 23,000 votes with her occupation listed as "Nun of the Above". San Francisco passed a law soon after, commonly called the "Sister Boom Boom Law", that all people running for office had to do so with their legal name. The same year the Sisters attended a Mass at Cathedral of Saint Mary, after which the local Catholic newspaper The Monitor stated the group was degrading towards Catholic nuns, citing Sister Boom Boom's name, and Sister Hysterectoria's. The same year, the Sisters held another mock exorcism, this time of Pope John Paul II, coinciding with his visit to San Francisco, calling it the "Official San Francisco Papal Welcoming Committee". The Sisters claim the action, also taking place in Union Square, earned the organization a spot on the Papal List of Heretics. At the time of the papal visit, the relations between the Catholic and LGBT communities of San Francisco were strained because of a letter by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, often called "Ratzinger Letter" in reference to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI). The letter was considered an attack on the LGBT community, with LGBT newspaper Bay Area Reporter mocking the letter with a headline "Pope to Gays: 'Drop Dead." An Archdiocese newspaper compared the Sisters' event to neo Nazis celebrating on the Jewish holiday of Passover. The controversy sparked a number of responses in The San Francisco Chronicle letters to the editor, both supporting and disputing the accuracy of the comparison; leaders of the San Francisco Anti Defamation League chapter wrote in reply that such a characterization was offensive and "trivializes the horrific actions of hate groups". The resulting attention ensured a crowd of 5,000 attendees and what the Sisters claimed to be a million dollars of free publicity. In 2011, gay Catholic writer Andrew Sullivan criticized the organization for hosting its annual "Hunky Jesus" contest on Easter Sunday and described the group as "smug liberal bigots". He also said it empowers prejudices against the LGBT community. Members of the San Diego Order have made a presence at a Christian fundamentalist youth revival meeting called Teen Mania Ministries from 2006 to 2008. Sisters Iona Dubble Wyde and Freeda Sole stood outside the Cox Arena in full regalia to intercept pastors and attendees. The responses from the children and adolescents were varied. While some told the Sisters they were going to hell, others asked questions and offered thanks and hugs; the event was generally reported as positive. The Sisters were featured in a 2008 book titled Catholic and Queer where they explained that their mode of dress was meant not only to employ the "fabulous attire" that had been forsaken by Catholic non cloistered orders, but that their dedication to community service is an attempt to "honor and emulate [the] unstinting devotion" of Roman Catholic nuns who work within their neighborhoods. In 2023, the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were scheduled to receive a "Community Hero Award" from the Los Angeles Dodgers for their charity and activism on the Dodgers' annual "Pride Night". On May 18, after US Senator Marco Rubio, Catholic Vote, the Catholic League and other religious groups criticized that, the team initially rescinded the invitation. The Los Angeles LGBT Center, ACLU, LA county supervisor Lindsey Horvath, city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, and state senator Scott Wiener called to reverse the disinvitation or cancel Pride Night if it would not feature the Sisters. On May 20, the mayor of Anaheim invited the Sisters to participate in the Los Angeles Angels' Pride Night instead, which they did on June 7. On May 22, the Dodgers apologized and re invited the Sisters, who accepted. In response, Catholic bishop Robert Barron called the Sisters an anti Catholic hate group and called on people to boycott the Dodgers. Dodgers players Clayton Kershaw and Blake Treinen criticized the inclusion of the Sisters, saying their parodies were offensive. On the afternoon of Dodger Pride Night, June 17, 2023, thousands of Catholics and supporters protested in the parking lot.

Celebrated even when the Castro was predominantly an Irish Catholic family neighborhood, as the demographics transformed, Halloween in the Castro became a major city event, described by author David Skal as "gay high holy day", attracting thousands of outsiders. On October 31, 1989, two weeks after San Francisco was devastated by the 6.9 MW Loma Prieta earthquake, the Sisters used donation buckets to collect thousands of dollars for the mayor's Earthquake Relief Fund from the Halloween crowds that poured into the Castro neighborhood for the massive street party. When the police confiscated an AK 47 from a reveler trying to gain access to Castro Street, and they reported that 50 to 60 people had been arrested, the Sisters decided to move the celebration and Halloween in the Castro ended. The next year, the Sisters hosted a costume mandatory dance named HallowQueen in a South of Market gay nightclub, which raised over $6,000 for charity. A decade later the city was still struggling to manage the Halloween event. In 2006 nine people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the celebration; it was canceled in 2007. The Sisters continued to organize private and safe events, raising money every year for charity.