‘Rogue nuns’ in drag mark 30 years of shock, charity
Sara Femme and Roxanna Roles are gathered at Kris Tall Mighty’s sunny house near the city’s Castro district. They’re almost like a group of excited high school girls getting ready for a prom, except they’re men in drag smoking cigarettes.
The three “Sisters” were together recently preparing for the 30th anniversary of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence coming out party. The Sisters began their San Francisco reign in 1979 when three bored men donned full, traditional habits of Catholic nuns and walked through the city to a nude beach. The three quickly realized that their prank had the power to both shock and amuse.
Today, as an order of “rogue nuns,” the Sisters are dedicated to spreading happiness, expiating what they call “stigmatic guilt” and serving the community by raising money for a host of charities. The group has no affiliation with the Catholic Church and consists of flamboyantly cross-dressing men, transgender people and others who have embraced their idiosyncratic marriage of camp and charity.
The group now has roughly 200 members with “Sister houses” in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Australia, Columbia, France and elsewhere. The group raises about $100,000 a year, which is distributed to organizations that serve the lesbian, gay and transgender community.
The Catholic Church has several times condemned the Sisters. In 2007, two costumed nuns went into the Most Holy Redeemer parish to take communion. Shortly thereafter, Archbishop George H. Niederauer canceled the Sisters’ bingo nights (which were held at the church), saying they were mocking Catholicism. The Sisters are now considered heretics.
“We coexist,” said a secretary from the Archdiocese of San Francisco who declined to give her name. “We don’t like each other. Still, they do a lot of good work for people with HIV and AIDS. They mock us, but the Church is about love and acceptance.”
“In no way do we attack the nuns within the Roman-Catholic church; We acknowledge all the hard, wonderful work they do,” said Sister So Am I. “We’re honoring the Sisters and we want the (Catholic) sisters to feel all the hard, blessed work that the (Perpetual) Sisters have done.”
An Easter Sunday 30th anniversary party brought worldwide attention to the group with television and newspaper coverage from as far away as Germany, Australia and Argentina. More than 10,000 people attended the annual event at Dolores Park in San Francisco’s Mission District, to see performances, a hunky Jesus and Easter bonnet contest and lots and lots of glitter.
“It’s really been quite remarkable and wonderful,” said Sister So Am I, a founding member of the San Francisco house, who came from Tennessee for the occasion. “This kind of celebration and the good will engendered by this has to diffuse stereotypes.”
Becoming their Sister personas is a work of love, says Sara Femme, drawing pink lines around her temples as she got ready for the anniversary party.
“I wanted to create beauty and laughter. Putting on my face is an opportunity to take away Angelique (her non-Sister name) and make Sara Femme, which is the same, but without all the baggage,” said Sister Sara Femme.
Sister Roxanne chose to express her spiritual side, donning a sari and putting googley eyes on her forehead. She explained her choice of face as representing the Hindu idea of reflection and the third eye.
“You looking at me, looking at you,” she said as she glued rhinestones over her eyebrows.
“(Putting on face) is fun for me, it gets to be a little Halloweeny,” said Kris Tall Mighty, still clad in monkey pajama pants. Sister Kris Tall Mighty never had an interest in makeup before becoming a Sister and noted that, for many Sisters, putting on the face is the worst part.
A few final touches and a basket of safe sex packets later, the Sisters are dressed and out the door. Sara Femme has already left, but Kris Tall Mighty and Sister Roxanne make their grand entrance on 18th Street, stopping to take pictures with tourists, random passers-by and saying hello to local merchants who don’t recognize them in costume.
The Sisters arrived at Dolores Park and greeted a gaggle of other nuns gathered around two wicker chairs with the word “founder” in red sparkles across the top.
Mother Teresa Nervina, a founder of the Sister’s Seattle branch, wore a Japanese Kabuki-inspired face and a three-tiered skirt inspired by Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind.”
“Today I’m celebrating the fact that I’m a 22-year-old sister. Who would have thought in 1979… that it would turn into this? It’s quite amazing actually,” Mother Nervina said.
A few dignitaries even showed up. State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, congratulated the Sisters for their hard work and good will, presenting them with a proclamation from the state senate.
“That’s quite a mission Sisters, and you did it, looking fabulous at the same time,” he said before a burly Sister planted a kiss on his lips.
The special day ended with the nuns parading up Noe Street to Market, where a block was closed off for what the Sisters have called “The Afterbirth,” a veritable block party. People living above the 250 block of Noe Street leaned out windows with soap bubble machines and strobe lights as DJs played dance music for a drunk and sometimes naked audience.
As the sun set, a group of Burning Man attendees held a Day-Glo performance to celebrate the Sisters’ history.
“I was thinking that this might be the most influential, most special experience of my life,” said Thea Delamater of Montana. “Everyone here is just who they are, and I feel really blessed to have experienced it.”
Sister Sara Femme was ready to go home by the end of the day.
“I want 12 hours (of sleep), I want to go home and take a bath! And get a facial!”
But her precisely drawn face had not a bit of makeup out of place.
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