The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence of Los Angeles will not be attending Dodger Pride Night this year. At least not in an official capacity.
It's not a reaction to the events of last year, when the team's decision to honor the satirical performance and activist organization made up of queer nuns dressed as women, which some Christians consider blasphemous, with its Community Hero Award erupted into national controversy . prompting a massive protest in front of Dodger Stadium and raising concerns for the Sisters' safety.
But it is indirectly related to all that.
The Sisters simply don't have time to attend Friday night's game against the Kansas City Royals. They're fully booked for all of Pride Month this year, something they attribute to all the publicity they received a year ago during what founding member Sister Unity calls “the Dodger rampage.”
“A lot of new groups have come to ask us to come to their events,” she told The Times in a recent Zoom interview that also included Sister Dominia, board president of the Sisters of Los Angeles, and Sister June. Cleavage, the vice president of the board. “It's just added a completely different layer to our usual busy Pride season.”
“Just like a beacon, we are a beacon to the weirdos,” Sister June added. “People who get it come to us. And everything this situation has done has made that light that much brighter. We have reached communities that are celebrating their first Prides and want us to support them there. Because they know…now they have sisters to lean on.”
Last spring, the Dodgers caused an uproar among religious and other groups when they announced that the Sisters of Los Angeles would be honored as part of the team's Pride Night festivities, so much so that the Dodgers reversed that decision. in mid-May.
But days later, after a marathon meeting that included members of the Sisters of Los Angeles leadership, Dodgers brass, California elected officials and local LGBTQ+ organizations, The team issued a statement offering “our sincere apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and their friends and family” and re-inviting the Sisters to receive their award on Pride Night.
In the same statement, the Dodgers wrote: “In the coming days, we will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that unite us, and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diverse team.” Dodger family.”
Sister Unity and Sister Dominia told The Times that their group has not heard from the Dodgers since the events of last summer. Still, they praised the team for their continued efforts to embrace the LGBTQ+ community.
“This year's Pride Night is continuing, they are advertising, the presence in our community seems strong, our community seems engaged,” Sister Unity said. “So we don't really need to be a part of that, we don't care about that that much. What matters is that the Dodgers and the L.A. LGBT community are so close… because that's what it's really about, that's why there are gay pride parades.
“It is to shore up people who have been pressured so that they can participate and their gifts can be shared and appreciated as part of the entire community. It is always about creating a large, diverse, colorful and multi-voiced community. “That's what Los Angeles has always been and really should always be.”
The Dodgers declined to comment for this article.
All three sisters agree that the events of the past year ended up being a blessing in disguise. While negative reactions toward the group appear to have receded to pre-riot levels, they said, support remains at an all-time high.
“Our attackers gave us 3 dollars for free [million] to 5 million dollars in advertising. “Free!” Sister Unidad said. “We couldn't have paid for what they ended up giving us just for being in the news cycle.”
The Sisters received several awards last year, including two this month from the Highways performance space in Santa Monica and the LGBTQ+ Bar Association. of the Angels. Last week, they spoke at a ceremony at the Kenneth Hahn Administration Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The Sisters were also at last year's Administration Hall Pride event, which marked the first time a Pride flag flew over a Los Angeles County building (the flag will fly daily at county offices in June).
The sisters also said that financial contributions to the group, which divides and distributes to a variety of charities, also increased dramatically after the events of last June.
“I think what it did was make people more aware that we exist,” Sister Dominia said. “And once people started realizing all the hate we were getting, you know, the death threats and everything that came in, the community stood up for us. …Because in each article certain things were said that were completely wrong: that we are anti-Christian, that we are a hate group, that we are this and that. Everything was the same and people who know us say: 'No, those are not the Sisters.'”
Sister Unity added: “There is now a level of inclusion across the board. I observed that this was a cultural revolution in a small sense in America, where suddenly the quote-unquote weirdos weren't being pushed aside so that the assimilated-looking people and the suits and ties could speak for us. They gave us the microphone. They put us at the forefront of the movement and allowed us to represent what was queer, what was different and wonderful.”
