First Christians, then LGBTQ activists pressured them. The Dodgers changed their minds several times, eventually landing right back where they started.

Some commentators reacted to the re-inclusion of the drag queens with shock. They were nostalgically longing for the days when a night at the ballpark didn't involve an overt political agenda.

But it's time to stop pretending: gender ideology has become a religion. There's no corner of culture it'll leave untouched.

Dodgers Honor Anti-Catholic Drag Queens

It all started with an invitation from the Dodgers to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They're a group of drag queens who mock the Catholic Church. The invitation was to participate in the baseball team's 10th annual Pride Night. The drag queens would receive a "Community Hero" award at the event.

Pretending to be an order of "trans and queer nuns," the Sisters openly mock Christianity in dozens of ways. They encourage audiences to "go and sin some more,". They host "Hunky Jesus" and "Foxy Mary" contests at Easter. They take fake religious names like "Sister Risqué of the Sissytine Chapel" and "Sister Shalita Corndog," among others.

Sen. Marco Rubio drew attention to the Dodgers' invitation through a May 15 letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred.

Manfred had previously said the MLB needs to "make decisions that are as inclusive and welcoming to everyone as possible, and keep us as apolitical as possible."

Rubio asked Manfred:

"Do you believe the Dodgers are being "inclusive and welcoming to everyone" by [...awarding that] group of gay and transgender drag performers? Performers that intentionally mock and degrade Christians. Not only Christians, but nuns, who devote their lives to serving others?"

As scrutiny mounted, the Dodgers rescinded their invitation. They published a now-deleted statement apologizing for their plan to award the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

"Given the strong feelings of those who have been offended by the sisters' inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits ...of Pride Night, we are [...removing] them from this year's group of honorees."

In the end, the strong feelings of those offended by the Dodger's backtracking prevailed. In solidarity with the Sisters, other LGBTQ groups began to withdraw from the team's Pride Night.

On May 22, the Dodgers changed course again. They had consulted their "diverse communities,". They had apologized to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and members of the LGBTQ community.

They had realized the baseball team will need to "work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves." The Sisters were back in. Read more

• Mary Frances Myler is a postgraduate fellow with the US Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government.

Drag queens had been a feature of an annual Harvest Feast fundraiser held on the gay-friendly parish's property by the Castro Country Club, an addiction recovery group.

But in August the new pastor, Father Brian Costello, told the club that drag queen performers and emcees would no longer be permitted.

"I said work with me. You can still have the dinner. You can have a regular emcee, but not drag queens on church property," Father Costello told the Bay Area Reporter.

He added: "I am the new pastor. There is a new archbishop. The archdiocese told me straight out, ‘No drag queens'."

But the San Francisco Chronicle got a different story when it spoke to parish business manager Michael Poma.

"Father Brian wasn't educated about the importance of drag queens in the gay community," Poma said. "Once it was explained to him, he said they were welcome to attend as long as their behaviour was church-appropriate."

Poma said the new policy was a ban on all non-church bookings, including weddings, because of problems including an event held by a gay softball team with some people "practically doing live sex acts on stage".

"We're part of the community here and to think that we're banning drag queens is obnoxious and ridiculous. There is no moratorium on drag queens. The church is predominately gay," he said, with many gays serving in ministry.

There was speculation that the new policy arose from the appointment of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, an active opponent of same-sex marriage, as Archbishop of San Francisco.

But archdiocesan spokesman George Wesolek said: "The new archbishop has absolutely no authority until October 4 when he takes over. I'm pretty sure he didn't even hear about this issue until now."

Sources:

Bay Area Reporter

San Francisco Examiner

California Catholic Daily

Image: CARM