Texas church defies government crackdown by blessing drag queens
Texas church defies government crackdown by blessing drag queens
While about three dozen protestors stood outside hurling slurs and threats, approximately 850 people attended the service...
The Cathedral of Hope — an LGBTQ+-affirming United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas — has made a concerted effort to defend the queer community from “persecution,” as the state government targets drag queens and transgender people.
The church recently held a service where they blessed drag queens and pledged to “stand for justice, proclaim love, and protect the rights of all people.”
While about three dozen protestors stood outside of the church hurling slurs and threats, approximately 850 people attended the service.
“Anyone check the weather today?!” one protester screamed. “’Cause it might rain fire and brimstone on this church and burn every homo inside!”
But for the ugliness on display outside, the congregation filled the building with love and “radical inclusivity.”
“We recognize that all people are made in the loving image of God, no matter who they are, how they dress, express themselves, or who they love,” the pastor intoned during the service. “We celebrate this divine diversity and commit to lifting up the voices of the LGBTQ+ community and creating spaces where everyone can thrive.”
As one worship leader noted as the pastor gave communion, “Drag queens are often targets of hate and violence.” The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, in particular, were singled out for particular honor due to their lifesaving work during the AIDS epidemic.
“These Sisters were at the bedsides of men dying of AIDS,” Rev. Dr. Neil G. Thomas said. “They bring humor, they bring activism, they provide and bring a level of spirituality that many of us have had taken away from us. Despite the humor, they take their spiritual work very seriously.”
The service was a response to recently passed legislation meant to make a drag a crime. The law, passed by Republicans, has been challenged in court by civil rights groups and blocked repeatedly by federal courts.
The law punishes drag performers and venues with a $10,000 fine if they allow a minor to see a “sexually explicit” performance. Such a performance is defined as one in which “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”
Lawyers from the Texas Attorney General’s office argued that because the law didn’t specifically mention drag, it wasn’t discriminatory to drag performances. However, in June, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) shared a story about the law’s passage that contained the headline, “Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public,” and added the comment, “That’s right.” Many state politicians who supported the law also publicly stated that it was meant to target drag, specifically.
But would the law apply to churches? That’s unclear.
“My kid was here,” the lead pastor said. “I don’t have the right to choose to bring my kid to church when there are drag queens?”
Such a performance is defined as one in which “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”
So, basically theater?
I checked and Mrs Doubtfire doesn’t have any dates in Texas on their calendar.
Jagged Little Pill will be in Dallas in January though. That show is…a bit, what they would call, “woke”. And there’s a character who was originally non-binary but now I think she was rewritten as lesbian.
Oh, wasn’t Roxie Hart played by a transgender black woman for a bit?
basically theater
Which is super gay and therefore a sin. Now you got it!
I never imagined that drag would become such a battleground. Of all the things. Conservatives really drive these culture war issues because they energize their reactionary base, and distract from core issues where they know their platform is against the public majority. If we’re talking about drag queens, we’re not talking about school debt forgiveness or climate change. It puts the left in a hard position because we don’t want to just let trans people be attacked, but the process does distract from more existential crises like climate change and wealth inequality. Both of which hurt the vulnerable most.
I guess this means Trump can't go stumping in Texas?
No more screenings of White Christmas or The Magic Flute or the great many other films with cross-dressing at movie theaters either.
As long as you don't run a production of Orlando, you're fine.
You have to be a real fucking idiot if you think the bible tells you to hate others. Jesus’s whole fucking message was love everyone no matter what. He literally walked with lepers and washed others feet. Fuck these people (the Texans they are defying)
Edit: clarification on who to fuck
The Bible contains quite a bit of hating others... God is a real piece of shit in the old testament. What did Job do to deserve what he got? Why did he tell Abraham to kill his own son for a goof? The book literally justifies slavery.
According to the book, Jesus is God, so..........
Yeah, but like fuck the Old Testament. That shit is just stories. The New Testament is where I feel the actual messages are. That’s just my belief others can feel differently I don’t care. However, I do care if you use your religion to expose hate and violence. Be better, love everyone regardless of what they are. You can not enjoy their company or not want to associate with them, but lift them up always. I don’t know if I worded that last bit properly 😅
I think Jesus's whole thing was "hate the haters." He had great disdain for the religious authorities that were institutionalizing hate.
Did he? He flipped over some money lenders tables and he debated the religious leaders of the day. He may have disagreed with them but I challenge you (and I'm an atheist, I have no real horse in the race about supposedly divine beings) to find a place in the bible where jesus was described as hating anyone.
Jesus as described in the New Testament was quite a badass. He fearlessly stood up to power, and fought against greed and hypocrisy. If more Christians followed his example that would be great.
The Bible explicitly says in black and white that God hates gender-nonconforming people. Ditto that Christians need to shun gay men.
Cool that this church chooses to disregard their own religion to be inclusive, but I'm too old to do that kind of mental gymnastics any more.
The Bible explicitly says in black and white that God hates gender-nonconforming people.
True. Edit: I like to clarify that I define this strictly to God hating people having sex with another of the same biological sex.
Ditto that Christians need to shun gay men.
Logically speaking, it doesn't follow. It's equally valid to hold the opinion that "while God hates gender-nonconforming people, I am not supposed to punish them for it." In fact a famous example to that effect is John 7:53–8:11: "let him who is without sin, cast the first stone". Practically-speaking, that line of thinking (that Christians need to shun gay men and similar ideas, that is) had dire consequences in the form of witch trials. There, they used the Christian prohibition on witchcraft to purge societies of social outcasts and undesirables who are most probably not witches.
Sharing an article that argues against Christians shunning gays: https://theconversation.com/using-the-bible-against-lgbtq-people-is-an-abuse-of-scripture-110128
this is how you level up from being a drag queen to a drag empress.
Royal coronations do generally involve clergy.
My sense of Texan pride is basically on life support, but shit like this is a ray of light in the dark, blighted void that is my hopescape.
Speaking as a California native and blatant leftie, I’m very proud of the Texas liberals I have met. They are actually better liberals than most people In CA, because they aren’t just inculcated into it, and they maintain their liberalism against adversity. Texas the state is fucked up, but I have a lot of respect for Texans. You just have a slightly larger asshole block than we do.
Yesterday, I saw an article about a church (shockingly in Fort Worth) that was raising money and giving grants for those needing to travel to different states for abortions.
Shit like that really yees my haw
Yes, many people are raised to have pride in the town, city, state, country or planet they are from. It's so common and cross-cultural that I am extremely surprised you would need an explanation by the time you're capable of writing comments on the Fediverse.
Now that we have the pedantry out of the way, how is your comment meant to be helpful or move us forward? If it's neither of those things, why are you doing it? All of this is rhetorical, of course. Just food for thought for us both.
What kind of religious sect is this
Not Sithrak, but it's close.
I'd love it if Texas went after religious practice.
Religious Freedom go Burrr
One of the Sisters of Perpetual is my glasses guy and a great buddy. Also been to protests with them back during Occupy. Kindest toughest motherfuckers you'll ever meet. Love them dearly!