LA Dodgers Face LGBTQ+ Storm After Banning Drag Group
a key issue in the culture wars, with calls for boycotts of companies that collaborate with them as ambassadors. On Thursday, the city of San Francisco caused a stir after announcing its first drag laureate to champion the local LGBTQ+ community.It comes amid a nationwide push by conservatives to restrict LGBTQ+ freedoms, most prominently for transgender individuals as well as drag performers.
As of April 25, there were 14 state legislatures considering bills to restrict or ban drag, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.In a since-deleted press release on May 4, L.A.
Pride said the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were due to receive a community hero award. Accepting re-invitation to the event, the group said they were "proud" to accept the award.The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have, since 1979 "devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment," says the group's website.However, the group has also performed stunts some Catholics found offensive, including an Easter festival in April which included a "hunky Jesus" contest and a person pole dancing next to another on a cross, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.News of the invitation drew condemnation from Catholic groups, who decried the group's subversion of ecclesiastical dress.In a letter to the baseball team on May 16, Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, a conservative advocacy organization, wrote that he was "extremely disturbed" by the announcement.He described the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as an "anti-Catholic hate group which exists to desecrate and degrade the Catholic faith.
