The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the LGBT Student Union at San Diego State University will protest Teenmania’s “BattleCry” event at Cox Arena April 27 and 28. BattleCry, notorious for being anti-gay, brings thousands of fundamentalist Christian teenagers together in cities across the country. Next stop, San Diego.

Talk around the water cooler is that local GLBT-friendly religious organizations were chewing over an idea to protest BattleCry. A peaceful demonstration, it was hoped, would show teens that GLBT Christians exist in vast numbers, and that we, too, have many proud people of faith.

Enter the Sisters.

Self-defined as “an order of 21st century nuns dedicated to the promulgation of universal joy and the expiation of stigmatic guilt,” the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is predominantly comprised of gay men who don the traditional habit – albeit flamboyantly and with an air of pageantry – and help raise money for local charities. Choosing to remain anonymous, the Sisters ornament themselves with dramatic costumes, makeup and, of course, their signature painted white face. Members’ names also get a makeover, with each sister selecting a pseudonym, many of which are racy and loaded with sexual innuendos.

So, it’s not surprising that when Sister Kali Vagilistic X.P. Aladocious and Sister Milka Lotta Cummings (just a few choice examples) attempted to join forces with local GLBT religious organizations, the latter no longer expressed interest in staging a protest.

This isn’t the first time the Sisters’ charity has gone unappreciated. When the San Diego chapter first formed and made an appearance at AIDS Walk (now labeled a family event with thousands of participating families and children), some members of the community weren’t so welcoming.

No one can deny that these do-gooders are hard-working community members who spread merriment and create a spectacle while raising money and awareness for various causes. Most recently, after the rash of muggings in the Hillcrest and North Park area, the Sisters were out en masse, visiting bars to educate patrons about the spike in criminal activity and handing out safety information. For that they should be applauded.

But we’re a little less surefooted with regard to their upcoming BattleCry protest. That’s because we predict the youth at BattleCry will not see the Sisters as a group of philanthropists celebrating their freedom of self-expression, but rather as a band of homosexuals dressed as nuns mocking their scared religious traditions. Instead of providing a positive representation of GLBT people of faith, the Sisters will most likely reinforce the negative stereotypes these teens are fed by their religious leaders.

Ah, but there is another equally compelling argument to be made. Our community was founded on the heels of many a drag queen. If we are one thing, it’s diverse. Our community is drag queens and dykes, Republicans and leather women. We are every color of the rainbow – and then some! We cannot tell one group to stay outta sight whenever the cameras are around. Most of us wouldn’t have the rights we have today without those who cannot or will not hide.

So where do you stand? Please send us your letters to the editor and weigh in on this interesting debate.

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