A new ad from CatholicVote released Monday shows Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris posing with a longtime member of the anti-Catholic “drag” troupe the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) at the San Francisco Pride parade in 2019.
Numerous Catholic leaders have denounced the SPI, including Bishop Robert Barron, founder of the popular media outlet and publishing group Word on Fire. Barron describes the SPI as an “anti-Catholic hate group,” and once said of their public “hunky Jesus” performances: “For Catholics, it’s hard to imagine anything more offensive.”
“Why is Kamala Harris posing with the founder of an anti-Catholic hate group?” asks the ad’s voiceover. “They mock our faith.”
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The photograph shown at the beginning of the ad was taken at the 2019 iteration of San Francisco’s massive annual pro-LGBTQ event.
Harris, then a U.S. Senator from California and a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, posed with both SPI member “Sister Roma” (Michael Williams) and “Saint Honey Mahogany” (James Mitchell), a San Francisco “transgender” activist.
Williams has been a member of SPI since 1987. Mitchell is considered by the anti-Catholic group to be a “saint,” a title given to its various allies who are not official SPI members.
The ad goes on to show a montage of multiple clips of SPI members dressed in lewd costumes mocking nuns and performing sexually suggestive dances on a cross.
“Kamala Harris stands with they/them. Not with you,” says the voiceover in the ad. “Christians can’t stay home November 5.”
Upon the ad’s release, CatholicVote President Brian Burch stated, “Let’s be clear: the ‘Sisters’ are no ordinary LGBT activist group.”
“They are a ‘drag’ troupe whose whole purpose is to mock and harass Catholics,” he explained;
Members of the SPI dress in nun costumes to ridicule real Catholic religious sisters.
…
They regularly hold “Hunky Jesus” competitions, where adult drag performers dress as Our Lord and even His Holy Mother – and perform stripteases, simulate sex acts, and mock the crucifixion.
In one horrific case, SPI members even tricked a Catholic archbishop into giving them Holy Eucharist – then took it off to desecrate it in a mock-Mass.
The SPI made headlines in May of last year when the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team controversially invited the troupe to receive a Community Hero Award at its “Pride Night” the following month.
Following extensive backlash from CatholicVote and other Catholic groups, the Dodgers decided to withdraw the SPI’s invitation. However, after pro-LGBTQ groups protested, the Dodgers decided to reinvite the troupe just days later.
On June 16, 2023, the baseball team gave the award to the SPI in a mostly empty stadium. A massive Catholic-led peaceful protest had formed outside.
Readers can learn more about the SPI’s pervasive history of anti-Catholicism here.
Readers can learn more about Kamala Harris’ record of hostility toward American Catholics here.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
