SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Assembly and Senate is honoring 18 members of the LGBTQIA+ community for Pride Month, but one of the honorees is sparking controversy.
Her name is Sister Roma. She’s a member of an LGBTQIA+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Founded in San Francisco in 1979, it’s a group comprised mainly of men, who dress in drag as nuns for charity, activism and performances. Sister Roma has been a member for more than three decades.
The California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus’ Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) chose to honor Sister Roma this Pride month for her fight against HIV/AIDS, creating the Sisters’ Stop the Violence Campaign to protect the LGBTQ+ community and dedicating more than half her life to community service, activism and fundraising.
But outside the Capitol at the time of the Senate ceremony, the California Family Council, the California Catholic Conference and other Christian groups held a prayer vigil in protest of Sister Roma being honored, saying the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are offensive and mock Christianity, particularly Catholicism.
“At a time when there needs to be unity, this does everything but that,” said pastor Jim Franklin of Cornerstone Church in Fresno, who drove up to the Capitol for the prayer vigil. “While we’re trying to build bridges between communities, this burns bridges. To honor a group that so defies the Catholic faith, I would ask him how can he, in any way, explain that to the Catholics and to the Evangelicals and to Christians with faith.”
Speaking in a news conference after the Senate ceremony, Sister Roma said tearfully, “That actually hurts my feelings to think that people think that I hate them or that I’m mocking them, especially something that they hold so dear to their heart. The only issue that I have is when people turn around and decide to interpret the scripture in a way that they can use to weaponize their religion and use it to oppress and discriminate against people.”
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence group denies it is anti-Catholic. On its website, the group says it uses “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”
Prior to Monday, the eight Senate Republicans signed a public letter, asking Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins to withdraw Sister Roma’s invitation to the Senate Floor for Monday's ceremony. Atkins – a member of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus – denied that request.
On Monday, several Republican lawmakers chose to join the prayer vigil outside the Capitol instead of voting on the Pride month resolution and seeing the honorees recognized. Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones posted a statement on Twitter opposing the honoring of Sister Roma.
In response, Sen. Wiener said he plans on having conversations with his Republican Senate colleagues about who the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are and why he says they do good in their communities.
This controversy comes after the Los Angeles Dodgers first invited the local Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence group to their LGBTQ+ Pride Night event - then uninvited members, following backlash - and then re-invited them following backlash to the backlash.
The other Pride Month honorees include tennis legends Billie Jean King and Rosie Casals; activist, influencer and actress Amber Whittington and actor-writer-director Eugene Lee Yang. A full list is HERE.
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