Nuns On The Bus
Nuns that have been targeted by the Catholic Corporation's hierarchy as being too liberal on gay marriage and abortion have gone on a bus tour. They intend to spread the message that conservative proposed budget cuts will hurt the poor. In this video they pay a visit to Paul Ryan's office to submit their own budget.
Right on, Sisters!
It's also interesting to note that this report comes from Al Jazeera News, how come US news media is not following this story?
My Blessing
This will be my standard blessing out in public. (I nearly forgot it, so I am putting it here to remember it.)
I'm going to give you a "Chill Pill". Repeat after me.
C is for "community".
H is for "health".
I is for "indulgence".
L is for "love".
L is for "laughter".
What's that spell? CHILL. Now don't bogart the Chill Pill, go out and share it.
FCKH8
A fun, goofy approach to reach the young voters. When the anti-gay old farts die off, equality will become the law of the land.
Sex. That’s Queer!
New York poet Craig Moreau will be reading from his new book "Chelsea Boy" at an event Friday, July 22nd, 8-10 called "Sex. That's Queer!" at the Center For Sex and Culture (Mission and 8th Street). Along with the reading by Craig Moreau (a cutie pie worth the price of admission just to oogle him!) will be a performance art piece by the Sisters around the five senses - seeing, hearing, touching, tasting. It's produced by Novice Sister Honey Be! as her Novice Project. Admission is pay-as-you-can. Sisters will be facilitating group interaction, self-expression, playfulness and creativity.
I will be playing the role of Mayor of Queer Street.
Pride 2011
Preparing for Pride this year was like getting ready for a show. I wanted two separate outfits for Saturday and Sunday, all laid out ready to throw on in a hurry, so that meant rehearsals and working out the final touches in advance. I didn't want to leave any decisions in those stressful minutes of make-up frenzy. Doing drag two days in a row was a lot for me, but other Sisters did 4 or 5 days in row this year. I don't know how Roma does it.
I had the pleasure once again to be a judge of the Parade floats again this year. It's a real honor and privilege to have all the floats and contingents perform for us with an unobstructed view and while sitting in an actual chair (imagine!) to view the entire parade. By volunteering to judge, we also got access to the VIP Party at City Hall where we indulged in free booze and nibblies.
Then it was off to Faerie Village, where the coolest people hang. This year they got real, and allowed Sister Porn to set up a "Sexy Adult Area". By saying "got real", I refer to the fact that the event is about sexual freedom, but every other activity surrounding Pride is done to be a distraction away from sex. As long as everyone spends a lot of money at Pride, it doesn't really matter if you go home with blue balls.
Pink Saturday 2011
Driving to the Castro in the late afternoon, the traffic was slow in both directions while the Dyke March was gathering. With the window down I heard a woman in a car passing in the other direction say to me, "Thank you Sister for all that you do." I didn't even see her, but that moment stuck with me all weekend.
Pink Saturday seems to get harder and harder to produce every year. Expectations are greater, security needs are greater, and we can't just do it by the seat of our pants anymore. There are grumblings among members that don't like Pink Saturday and prefer to boycott it, leaving us with limited nun power, but we pull it off beautifully in spite of the challenges.
In walking through the crowd at Pink Saturday, it occurred to me that Pink Saturday is really an event for gay youth. We always think of it as a "community event" and some members dislike the fact that the crowd is not our usual peer groups. Yes, we get a lot of the bridge-and-tunnel kids, but the truth is, these ARE the gay youth of the Bay Area. Many still live at home, which is often in the suburbs. If you're under 21 and can't go to bars, your choices are limited. The fact that we put on this party, stressing the "no alcohol" aspect, gives the gay youth a unique opportunity to gather in the City and really experience what's possible.
Pink Saturday may be getting too big for our management , but I can't imagine what other group could take it on properly. I think the Sisters need to partner up with some other entity, keep our name associated with the event, but still take some of the burden off us.
Harm Reduction At Pride – Don’t Be A Drag
Harm Reduction suggestions for the Pride, the Big Gay Holiday of hard partying:
-Hydration: Drink water and carry some with you.
-Nutrition: Have brunch.
-Relaxation: Sit down before you fall down.
-Visitation: Plan you activities so you don't miss anything.
-Don't Be Doped: Even a hot mess is still just a mess.
Brought to you by The Sisters Who Care.
This Is The Speech I DIDN’T Give At The Liz Taylor Tribute
I wrote this speech originally for the Liz Taylor tribute at the Castro Theater on May 27, 2011. After showing it to other Sisters, we agreed that it was not appropriate for this event, besides being way too long. However, I put a lot of thought into it, and just in the process of writing it, I gained a lot of new ideas and perspectives on the WBC and how to handle them.
I am Sister Zsa Zsa Glamour of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. We are here to pay tribute to a Hollywood icon,
ELIZABETH TAYLOR HILTON WILDING TODD FISHER BURTON BURTON WARNER FORTENSKY
We could talk about Elizabeth Taylor's beauty, her talent, her movie career, her business career, her diamonds, her husbands, but I want to speak a little about activism. Having grown up in Hollywood and befriending closeted gay actors like Roddy McDowell and Montgomery Clift at a time when no one else would, Elizabeth Taylor was the first celebrity to bring awareness about AIDS to the public when her friend Rock Hudson became ill. Over her lifetime, Elizabeth Taylor raised more than $270 million dollars for Amfar and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. These actions are well-known and documented as they have affected all of our lives. So how SHOULD a group of fans and crazy nuns way up in San Francisco, who have never actually MET Elizabeth Taylor, pay proper tribute?
This event tonight began with a frantic phone I received from a new member of our Order. This new member was concerned that the God Hates Fags people were threatening to picket Elizabeth Taylor's funeral, and he wanted assemble the Sisters to go down to Hollywood and counter-protest the appearance of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Now, I've done a lot of research on this cult that calls themselves a "church", and I believe I have figured out their tactics and most importantly, their motivation. I quickly talked him out of the idea of the Sister doing a counter-protest for reasons I will explain in a minute, and our method of how we SHOULD pay tribute soon became clear.
First a little background about why The Westboro Baptist Corporation "hates fags". In the 1970's Fred Phelps was a struggling lawyer with a lot of kids. His own father described him as "the type of kid who would kick somebody and then laugh about it." As a young father, Phelps controlled his family with an iron fist by inflicting physical and emotional abuse upon his wife and small kids, instilling a sense of fear and discipline in them, punctuated with fire and brimstone religion as his justification.
The Speech I Gave At Liz Taylor Tribute
Below is the speech I gave at the Elizabeth Taylor tribute last night at the Castro Theater.
I’m Sister Zsa Zsa Glamour. (I'm the Zsa Zsa with two legs...) From now on, when you hear the name Elizabeth Taylor, I want you to visualize a giant diamond, floating in space, surrounded by nothingness, except for the twinkling of smaller stars in the background. This diamond shines brighter than any other in the galaxy. If you’ve ever stared deeply into a flawless diamond, you’ve experienced the “fire” effect of reflected light. This giant diamond shines brightly only because of the reflected light YOU’ve sent to it.
Liz is gone, Oprah has retired, but the Sisters are still here, and more importantly, YOU are still here to carry on her work and support groups like Project Inform. Before this event was announced, a couple of us Sisters stepped back and asked ourselves, what WOULD be a proper tribute to Hollywood Royalty, and the answer was simple. Pay tribute to Elizabeth Taylor at the grandest of all movie palaces in San Francisco, the Castro Theater.
Thank you to the management of the Castro and to Project Inform for allowing us to participate and do what The Sisters do best - promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt. And thank YOU for attending and paying tribute to one of the true saints of our lifetime.
And now I have the honor of reading the sainting of ELIZABETH TAYLOR HILTON WILDING TODD FISHER BURTON BURTON WARNER FORTENSKY.