I'm a fully professed member of the San Francisco house of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. (501c3) (note: page is safe for most work, but may have mature content). I've been a "Guard" with the Sisters since 2007, and transitioned to full Sisters about a month ago. My partner is Sister Mary Juanita High.
My name is Sister Tuna Noodle Cocktail. The Sisters are an order of Queer nuns (which today includes gay men, lesbians, transgender, and yes, heterosexual men and women). We take vows to "Promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt."
Our work is based both in the Queer community and the community at large with education and fundraising around such issues as AIDS, breast cancer, social justice, homophobia, health rights, risk assessment and harm reduction. The history of the SPI can be viewed here (beware of artistic license, or one nun's story differs from another due to two-for-one cocktails).
The Sisters published the first safe sex pamphlet which addressed the community's concerns in simple, everyday language. As well, the first "benefit" for the then-unnamed AIDS was held by the Sisters.
The history on the site goes to 2007, but we recently celebrated our 30th anniversary starting around the Easter/Equinox time which is when the original Sisters manifested and became public. The 30th Anniversary included over 150 Sisters from other orders; both US and foreign houses. The events started with exhibits and programs at the Hormel Library at the SF Public Library and a three month residency at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The celebration continued with the Sisters annual Anniversary/Easter in Dolores Park, at which it was estimated about 50,000 people attended for the festivities.
Just a few weekends ago the Sisters hosted their 11th or 12th Pink Saturday in SF's Castro district. The "event" took place for over 20 years as simple spillover into the streets from the bars and clubs on the night before the San Francisco Pride Parade and festival. This year Pink Saturday expanded dramatically taking in over $150,000 in donations which are in turn granted back out to community organizations and other non-profits.
This Sunday, July 19 at the Eagle Tavern, the Sisters will host a "beer bust" which will benefit another organization. This particular beer bust will also see us give away grants from Pink Saturday donations. For $10 patrons can get beer (or soda) and refills from 3-6pm; a barbecue is also included in the cover.
The Sisters published the first safe sex pamphlet which addressed the community's concerns in simple, everyday language. As well, the first "benefit" for the then-unnamed AIDS was held by the Sisters.
The history on the site goes to 2007, but we recently celebrated our 30th anniversary starting around the Easter/Equinox time which is when the original Sisters manifested and became public. The 30th Anniversary included over 150 Sisters from other orders; both US and foreign houses. The events started with exhibits and programs at the Hormel Library at the SF Public Library and a three month residency at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The celebration continued with the Sisters annual Anniversary/Easter in Dolores Park, at which it was estimated about 50,000 people attended for the festivities.
Just a few weekends ago the Sisters hosted their 11th or 12th Pink Saturday in SF's Castro district. The "event" took place for over 20 years as simple spillover into the streets from the bars and clubs on the night before the San Francisco Pride Parade and festival. This year Pink Saturday expanded dramatically taking in over $150,000 in donations which are in turn granted back out to community organizations and other non-profits.
This Sunday, July 19 at the Eagle Tavern, the Sisters will host a "beer bust" which will benefit another organization. This particular beer bust will also see us give away grants from Pink Saturday donations. For $10 patrons can get beer (or soda) and refills from 3-6pm; a barbecue is also included in the cover.
Congratulations on entering the Sisterhood. Although they are an international organization, I still associate The Sisters with San Francisco, and have admired the great work they do for the LGBT community. They add much to San Francisco's colorful history. Although it was quite controversial, I found it amusing when a few Sisters asked for communion at the neighborhood church and caused an uproar in the Catholic Archdiocese, and even in national news. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreg, yes the Sisters are very closely tied to SF. The order started here in 1979 so we refer to SF as the "Mother House."
ReplyDeleteThe controversy over the communion at Most Holy Redeemer (MHR) was fodder for the conservative media. Bill O'Reilly still drags that footage out from time to time. He despises The Sisters, and it's good PR for us. However, the communion that the Sister took was NOT in mockery or protest. Sister Delta Goodhand is a devout Catholic (and Republican...so you see we take all kinds) and wanted to go to Sunday Mass that morning before the Castro Street Fair which started shortly after. MHR has a largely GLBT congregation and by and large is very friendly towards the Sisters. In fact, we used to host our monthly bingo games there before the Archdiocese decreed a cease and desist with MHR from dealing with The Sisters. We played maybe 3 months of bingo there after putting in a large amount of money to contribute to bringing their social hall up to code, as well as donating one month's bingo proceeds back to the church for some of their programs. Anyway, the Archbishop was there and coincidentally so was a plant from an ultra-conservative Christian watchdog organization (Americans For Truth) who just happened to have a video camera with them and they were taping covertly. The media made it seem like The Sisters publicized the video, which is totally untrue. The American's for Truth have been trying to find some way to reign in MHR because of their open policy towards gays. Archbishop originally stated that he wasn't aware of anyone at mass in unusual garb, and in fact he said "hello Sister" to one of the two Sisters that was there. He then retracted his words when the heat was on and he issued another statement condemning the Sister from taking communion. Anyway...it was a big deal for a while in the media, and raw meat for the religious right.