aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: charity & activism

San Francisco and Halloween made me go back and dig up this recent profile of the wonderful Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence started in 1979 as one of the first charities supporting San Francisco’s gay community and has since spread to more than 600 sisters in eight countries.

Mixing street theater, drag-queen elegance and community fundraising, the men of the Sisterhood support AIDS organizations, help combat hate crimes and, as they put it, “promote universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.”

“We are part of the modern gay rights movement,” said Sister Kitty Catalyst of San Francisco. “We are not ashamed of our differences, we are proud of them.”

Calling themselves 21st century nuns, the sisters have raised more than $1 million in San Francisco alone and have benefited such groups as the Breast Cancer Network, Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic and the Gay Games. The Sisters bring meals to the infirm and fund alternative proms for queer youth.

Now that’s some old-time gay culture, whether they live in the Castro or not.

RELATED: A recent stunt had Catholics calling the archbishop a “Judas priest” and, predictably, riled up Bill O’Reilly.