Why Christian’s Need the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters were declaring that queer people no longer needed to be afraid of homophobic Christians, the Church, or of God

The LA Dodgers were embroiled in controversy for much of the month of May over their inclusion of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a historic queer rights group, in their 10^th annual Pride Night Celebration. Christian groups immediately lashed out against the Dodgers, claiming that the Sisters were an “anti-Christian hate group”, as Catholic Bishop Robert Barron stated on Twitter. 

This accusation against the Sisters stemmed from a video that began circulating of a performance by the Sisters that included a depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus while a pole dancer danced around the wooden cross affixed to the top of the float. For many Christians, this appeared to be an act of blasphemy, meant to mock the central event in the Christian story- the death of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world.