Dodgers disinvite anti-Catholic drag performers from Pride Night after backlash

Boston, Mass., May 17, 2023 / 15:13 pm

The Los Angeles Dodgers have announced that the franchise will no longer be honoring a group of drag performers that mock the Catholic faith on June 16 during the team’s LGBTQ+ Pride Night after receiving criticism from Catholic leaders.

In the Dodger’s May 17 statement about its Pride Night, the organization said on Twitter:

“This year, as part of a full night of programming, we invited a number of groups to join us. We are now aware that our inclusion of one group in particular — The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — in this year’s Pride Night has been the source of some controversy.”

The L.A. chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a gay and transgender group of activists who dress up as religious sisters, was scheduled to receive the Dodgers’ “Community Hero Award.” 

The group describes itself as “a leading-edge order of queer and trans nuns” and celebrates homosexuality on its website, proclaiming the slogan, “Go forth and sin some more!” 

“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the Dodgers said.

The MLB said in a May 4 statement that the group’s L.A. chapter would be receiving the award because of “their countless hours of community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges, in addition to promoting human rights and respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.”

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles criticized the Los Angeles Dodgers on Twitter this week for its plans to honor the group.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles responded Tuesday to the Dodgers’ decision by sharing a statement from the Catholic League denouncing the event as “anti-Catholic hate speech.”

San Francisco’s Archbishop Cordileone also shared the Catholic League’s statement on Twitter. He added the comment: “‘Community Heroes’ for this?”

Cordileone tweeted again on Wednesday supporting Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s letter to the commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB) asking why the league is honoring “a group that mocks Christians through diabolical parodies of our faith.”

In his May 15 letter, Rubio said that the group “has mocked and degraded Christians, and especially Catholics, since its founding on Easter Sunday in 1979.”

“Do you believe that the Los Angeles Dodgers are being ‘inclusive and welcoming to everyone’ by giving an award to a group of gay and transgender drag performers that intentionally mocks and degrades Christians — and not only Christians, but nuns, who devote their lives to serving others?” the senator asked.

The gay and transgender activist group has staged performances since 1979, when the AIDS epidemic began, and has since been a fixture of protests and Republican and conservative gatherings.

Former Biden administration official Sam Brinton, who was placed on leave from the Department of Energy after being charged with stealing luggage, is a member of the drag organization taking the name “Sister Ray Dee O’Active,” according to The Telegraph.

Many of the members of the group, which also raises money for AIDS and LGBTQ causes, use names mocking the Catholic faith such as “Sister Selma Soul,” “Sister Guard N. O’Pansies,” or “Sister Lourdes Mae Shepherd.”

The announcement that the group would receive an award struck a nerve on social media, sparking a backlash directed at the MLB and Dodgers’ organization. 

“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) are an anti-Catholic hate group which exists to desecrate and degrade the Catholic faith,” said Brian Burch, the president of CatholicVote.

“It’s bad enough to drag down baseball — which ought to be synonymous with the best of America,” said Joshua Mercer, CatholicVote’s vice president. “But the L.A. Dodgers — with the blessing of Major League Baseball — are doing more than pollute our national pastime with woke intolerance and far-Left propaganda: They’re directly attacking religious Americans.”

“Why is @MLB honoring an anti-Catholic hate group?” asked Ryan T. Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

“Bravo to Senator @MarcoRubio for holding the ⁦@MLB⁩ Dodgers to account for its disgusting political embrace of anti-Catholic bigotry,” Catholic University professor Chad Pecknold tweeted.

CatholicVote’s Burch issued a statement on Twitter following the Dodgers’ announcement on Wednesday. 

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“We are pleased that the @Dodgers reconsidered their decision to honor an anti-Catholic hate group known for their gross mockery of Catholic nuns. While we continue to wonder how such a group was selected in the first place, this incident should serve as a wake-up call for all religious believers: Unchecked woke corporations have no qualms about exploiting people of faith,” he said.