The Los Angeles Dodgers removed the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from their pre-game LGBTQ+ Pride Night celebration at Dodger Stadium following a backlash from Catholic leaders and republican politicians like Marco Rubio who publicly condemned the team’s plan to bestow the Sister with a Community Hero Award, which has been rescinded.
The Los Angeles Dodgers caved.
“In the spirit of unity, the Los Angeles Dodgers are proud to host our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th,” reads a statement by the baseball team. “This event has become a meaningful tradition, highlighting not only the diversity and resilience within our fanbase, but also the impactful work of extraordinary community groups. 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. 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 Sisters who define themselves as a charity, protest, and street performance organization that uses humor, drag and religious imagery to call attention to sexual intolerance released the following statement:
“We, the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, were recently awarded a Community Hero Award by the Los Angeles Dodgers for our twenty-seven years of service to the LGBTQIA Community. Today, we are sad to learn the Los Angeles Dodgers have chosen to rescind their award, succumbing to pressure from persons outside of the State of California and outside of our community. We are disappointed they have chosen to un-ally themselves with us in our ongoing service to the public, many of whom enjoy the Dodgers’s heroic efforts in sports.
Some errant information presented by persons unfamiliar with our work needs clarification: We are a charity organization, and we are human rights activists. Our mission is to uplift our community and all marginalized groups, especially the ones ignored by larger organizations, spiritually oriented or otherwise. We are queer nuns serving our people just as nuns of other cultures serve theirs. We are not solely male; our membership includes all genders, religions, and romantic affiliations. Though we both serve the transgender community and have transgender members, we are not an exclusively trans organization. We unequivocally support the rights of people born transgender. We are both silly and serious. We use our flamboyance in service to our charity work and our message, which is, ‘There is room in our world for each person to be who they are, as they are, free from shame or guilt, and alive in joy and love for their own self.”
Our work speaks for us. We do not serve to receive awards or accolades. We are grateful and proud when other organizations choose to acknowledge our service, yet our own focus remains on the work of removing suffering and promulgating joy. While we may no longer appear on Dodgers Pride Night we will be out on the streets of Los Angeles continuing to serve and uplift our community. If being true to oneself with love, joy and pride is a sin, then we, having been cancelled by the New York Post, and now the Dodgers, will do what we always do. We will go out and sin some more. May grace cover all your bases. May you shine like a diamond.
– The Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”
The Dodgers have teamed up with LA Pride to host their annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium, on Friday, June 16 at 7:10pm.
But they got rid of Bauer….