http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=6419
Habit forming
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
BY ROB WILLIAMS

-----
Perhaps you’ve seen them in and around San Diego. A gaggle of nuns, but not the kind of nuns you’re used to seeing. These nuns are wearing habits that forsake the usual gray and black for splashier reds and lavender, among other colors. They wear geisha-like makeup – ghostly white faces that are streaked with blue and orange and red Egyptian eye shadow. Their lips are wet with glitter and gloss; their bejeweled and feathered cornets (headdresses) rising high above their heads. They are the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, my knowledge of and exposure to nuns was quite limited. I only knew I was afraid of them. Well, not afraid, but apprehensive. I went to an Episcopalian Church (a branch of Catholicism, yes, but a rather far-extending branch; my older sister once referred to it as the place people go simply to drink coffee and socialize). I was even an acolyte; ringing the communion bells was a particular favorite task of mine – it was all in the wrist, as they say. But there were no nuns at my church, and this was about as close to Catholicism as I would get.
Most of what I knew of nuns I learned from what I saw on television (Sally Field’s early ’70s television show “The Flying Nun”) and movies (Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act and, of course, Julie Andrews’ Maria in The Sound of Music – I am a gay man, after all). There was, however, the occasional spotting of a sister or two on the street, Bibles in hand, their faces calm and patient underneath their veil and crisp-white wimple; the black or gray habits covering their feet so that they seemed to float rather than walk.
While a flying or even a singing nun sounds pretty easygoing, they, of course, are fictional characters. And I don’t know about you, readers, but when I see a real nun out in public, or especially if I’m about to cross paths with one, I often feel a tightening in my stomach. A nervous twitch overcomes me (guilt, perhaps?), and I find myself scrutinizing my every step, every breath, every thing I’ve ever thought or done in my life that could possibly be evil or a sin. Do they know I was just cruising that hot guy on the corner? Can they tell my AOL screen name just by the wrinkle in my brow? Is it obvious that I used to twirl around, much like Julie Andrews on that mountaintop, in my acolyte robe because it was the closest thing to a dress I had ever put on?
When passing said nuns on the street, I usually give a slight and solemn nod or the most forced angelic smile I can muster. But, more often than not, I avoid having to look in their eyes, lest they see the pot of wrongdoing boiling within me. I call this “nunphobia” – and I’m not the only one who has it. Indeed, many of my friends and acquaintances have admitted to similar feelings of guilt and shame when seeing a nun (and sometimes men in clerical collars – unless they’re cute, which is a whole other story).
And why is this? Nuns are supposed to be kind people; just look at Mother Theresa. She tended to the sick and poor, and in pictures her hands were always extending out in front of her as if she were ready to embrace anyone, anywhere, unconditionally.
Recently, though, I met a group of sisters who have changed the way I look at habit-wearers forever. I had the distinct pleasure of spending an evening with the San Diego chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from the Asylum of the Tortured Heart. But who are the sisters and what is their mission?
Origins of the Sisters
The Asylum of the Tortured Heart is a relatively new chapter to the nearly 27-year-old, glitter-encrusted driving force that is the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. According to their Web site, the Sisters originated with three gay men in San Francisco in 1979 who wanted to combine radical politics, street theater and high camp. Legend has it that their habits were obtained from a community theater production of The Sound of Music (aha!). On Easter weekend in 1979, these three men went out into the streets of San Francisco in full, traditional habits, where they were met with shock, amazement and especially intrigue. People wanted to know who these nuns were. Why were they here? Are they just another form of entertainment?
Hardly.
Their mission, not unlike traditional Roman Catholic religious orders, emphasizes community outreach, education and service. Advocating a sex-positive philosophy, “Give up the guilt,” the San Francisco group organized as an order in 1980 and were later incorporated in 1986.
Traditionally, nuns come up with their own name, or they are christened by older experienced nuns, and there is no difference with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. However, their names are most often of the irreverent and outrageous variety: Sister Missionary Position, Sister Roz Erection, Sister Hysterectoria… you get the picture. And although originally founded as an “order of gay male nuns,” the group now consists of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual men and women.
And in case you think the Sisters are merely a band of scene-stealing, cross-dressing former drama geeks out to crash every parade or city fest with their zany antics and colorful costumes, consider this: In 1982, the S.F. Sisters joined with a team of medical professionals to create “Play Fair,” the first sex-positive safer-sex pamphlet to address the AIDS crisis with sex-positive information, practical advice and humor. 1982 also saw the first AIDS fund-raiser with the Second Annual Dog Show in the Castro (where the Sisters were joined by none other than spiritual diva Shirley MacLaine). In 1983, they organized the first AIDS candlelight vigil. They have held ongoing fund-raisers for the AIDS Memorial Quilt and Project Open Hand (an organization that provides meals to homebound people with HIV and AIDS), and weekly bingo games in local churches to help fund local charities and nonprofit organizations.
Since their inception in 1980, orders have popped up across the United States, including in Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Oklahoma City, Las Vegas (the Sin City Sisters!), Tennessee, Chicago, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Seattle – but it doesn’t stop there. In 1991, a chapter was founded in Berlin, Germany, followed by others in Australia, France, Scotland, the U.K. and even Uruguay.
The Sisters are not without their controversy, however, ruffling the robes of many Catholics who say that they mock the beliefs and rituals of the church. In 1987, the pope, during his visit to San Francisco, promptly placed the order on the Papal List of Heretics when they showed up to greet him by staging a ritual exorcism. You know you’ve arrived when you’ve been denounced by the pope.
I wondered, then, as I made my way to my interview with the San Diego chapter, what to make of this Sister Act (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Why the need for a Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence chapter in San Diego? Why now? Why here? And what of the controversy? For they have already, in only six months of operation, been on the receiving end, so to speak, of heated criticism.
This writer was about to find out.

Love them!

So very Fabooliscious! They do a lot for the communities here. Definitely positive gay "role models" of a sort.

superspaceboy said:

Yep! Gay

I love them. I rode to on the San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS Ride and two of them rode along. We passed by a Mission that had 20 or so Monks living there. They both gave them safe sex lessons and gave them condoms. It was hilarious. They were very respectful though and so were the Monks.

M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

i love all the Sisters two of the LA Sisters kidnapped me at my very first Pride because i was really sunburned and they had aloe at their hotel.

i've heard that there may be a Sister manifesting here sometime in the near future.

I know Sister Bearlesque 'Ho quite well God bless her and all who sail in her.