Earlier this month, the iconic troupe of queer and transgender activists was benched from the Dodgers’ 10th annual Pride Night following a conservative pressure campaign led by Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue. However, the Dodgers’ decision to give in to Rubio and Donohue — relayed in a since-deleted statement on Twitter — was condemned by politicians, celebrities, activists and fans on social media, amassing thousands of responses in a matter of hours. The Los Angeles LGBT Center, Los Angeles Pride and the ACLU of Southern California pulled out of the event in solidarity with the Sisters; Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken also wrote in a tweet that she planned to invite the group to join her for Angels Pride Night at Anaheim Stadium on June 7.
As a response to the backlash, the Dodgers reconsidered and made another announcement a few days later: The Sisters would be reinvited to the event to accept a Community Hero Award during the pregame ceremony on June 16, as originally planned.
That didn’t sit well with Kershaw, who sought to expedite his own announcement of the return of Christian Faith and Family Night, an annual event that was put on hiatus during the pandemic.
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw told the Los Angeles Times. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers].”
Kershaw also reportedly initiated a players-only meeting in the Dodgers clubhouse to discuss the situation, but noted he did not plan to boycott the Pride Night event where the Sisters will be presented with their award: “As a follower of Christ, we’re supposed to love everybody well,” he said.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or pride or anything like that,” Kershaw added. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
Founded in San Francisco in 1979, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a longstanding charitable organization that produced some of the world’s first fundraising events in response to the AIDS crisis and went on to become a philanthropic powerhouse, using subversive performances, religious imagery and the art of drag to promote their mission of community service.
“I wholeheartedly applaud Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers for their planned relaunch of Christian Faith & Family Day,” Sister Roma of the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence wrote in an email to SFGATE on Tuesday. “Why shouldn’t religious Dodgers fans have a special day just for them? I was equally encouraged by Kershaw’s promise that he will not boycott the LGBTQ+ Pride Night, asserting that his Christian faith calls him to ‘love everybody well.’”
Roma continued, “Despite the rhetoric being spewed about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Kershaw may be surprised to learn that our mission is very much in line with the principle of ‘loving everybody well.’ We have no hate for people of faith who do not weaponize their religion and use it to justify their own homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and racism. We are not mocking nuns. We are nuns. We feed the hungry, tend to the sick, care for the unhoused, support LGBTQ+ youth, and provide ministry to our community.”
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence pose at the Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary contest in Dolores Park in San Francisco on Sunday, April 9, 2023.
Christopher Partin / Special to the SFGATEDespite the Sister of Perpetual Indulgence’s decadeslong, documented history of charity, other MLB players sided with Kershaw’s comments on Monday, including Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams, who said it wasn’t inclusive of the Dodgers “to invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion.”
Sister Unity of the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence told SFGATE she was previously unaware of Kershaw’s remarks, but that she was pleased the Dodgers were holding a Pride Night event as well as a Christian Faith and Family Day.
“As an LGBTQ+ nun, I have learned to be in many places with many people, some of whom are strange to me, some of whom are familiar, some of whom I am afraid of and disagree with. But I have taken a vow to serve with love and trust, and that’s why I do what I do,” she said over the phone on Tuesday afternoon.
In response to the Dodgers controversy at large, Sister Unity expressed her desire for more understanding surrounding the work the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence does from people who are unfamiliar with it, and explained that “laughter and even satire are very healing for people who have been hurt.”
“We [The Sisters] absolutely employ satire and humor and joy to heal our own community. We never aim it at anyone’s faith. It is always aimed inward at our people to our own benefit,” Sister Unity said. “I completely understand how that can be construed as offensive. I can only offer that understanding, which takes time and patience, can be attained by spending time with LGBT people; understanding our lifelong experience. And perhaps the Sisters’ experience makes more sense once you are familiar with this context that we live in every day of our lives.”
Pride Night is scheduled for Friday, June 16, against the San Francisco Giants.