A letter to the editor - SD Gay and Lesbian Times

Dear Editor,

I read your recent article asking "Should we side with the Sisters?" and wanted to share with you how the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence impacted my own life when I was a kid in Southern California.

At the time I was living with my family in Irvine... the plastic city behind the Orange Curtain. I was on my way home from school with my nose burried in a book, when I heard familiar words....tho I'd never before heard them in the same sentance before. "Faggot....Dyke...Sissy!" and I looked up to find the words weren't being flung at me as I'd at first thought. (oh yes, I've been called them all)

I noticed instead a small group of people, maybe 20, clustered together in the middle of the street holding up signs, chanting, and looking shaken. They were scared because people from the neighborhood were screaming insults at them and shaking fists, and generally looking dangerous. When all of a sudden I noticed a clown... no... I'd never seen a clown like this before it was a man in a dress... with clown face. I wasn't sure what to make of this but she was SO happy! It was Sister X-plosion, bless her. I remember thinking, "Wow there's someone else like me out there. Someone people don't know quite what to make of, who doesn't fit the norm. She's beautiful! Something was lit inside me. A hope perhaps...a glimmer of the future.

There were no Order of Sisters in Southern California at the time, she had moved there temporarily and I'm glad she did. I think she saved my life that day. Not just because the tiny gay pride cluster was attacked, but because she gave me hope. It was the last year they tried to have a pride parade off of the UCI campus for years to come...I don't know if they've had one off campus since. I grew up in an atmosphere that told me it was NOT ok to be who I was. But I remembered that beautiful Sister X and held onto the hope that some day I'd find others like me.

I remember she was dancing around the outside of the cluster, telling people in the crowds they were beautiful, and that she loved them. Mostly, she was just being a joyful and loving Sister. She came up to me, put her hands on my cheeks and said "you're fabulous just as you are darling! Now run along home!" I did, chanting all the way, "We're here, we're queer, we're Fabulous!"

Years went by before I was able to come out of the closet and I finally found other Sisters. The Sisters in Los Angeles and San Diego brought me much joy and I am grateful to them for all their support and encouragement along my path to being the fabulous queer man I am today.

Should we side with the Sisters? For the sake of all the kids like me out there, I certainly hope so.

TONIGHT - Dining Out for Life with the Sisters

Don't miss your chance to Dine out for Life with the Missionary Order of the Grand Canyon Sisters at Burger Betty's Jaded tonight!

Visit the Phoenix Dining Out for Life page, and find other places you can eat through out the day to help raise funds for AIDS charities!

So visit Zoe's with the Bears for lunch, and come, have fabulous food with we glittery gals for dinner then head over to Nu Town Saloon for drinks after!!

Federal Hate Crimes Law In da House

There is a VERY important bill coming before the House of Representatives... if passed this will become FEDERAL law making this country a safer place we hope, for ALL by making it possible to punish violent offenders who attack people based on their sexual identity, gender presentation or disability. Being that I'm a freak in all of those areas, this bill has a special place in Sister Mischif's heart.

Call them, let them hear from citizens who want EQUAL protection for all humans in the US and read the following to learn more:

Next week, the House could finally vote on hate crimes. Will they be swayed by radical lies? Or can you help us raise $50,000 to fight their spin?

Can you feel the momentum? As early as next Monday, the House may vote on one of the most important bills we've ever seen: the first federal hate crimes law that would include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lawmakers are making up their minds NOW, and the right wing knows it. They're sending daily alerts to their fundamentalist base, barraging reporters and representatives with misinformation, and doing everything they can to deceive Congress and the public. Will their lies prevail?

Your response to this week's call has been amazing: we've already raised $40,000 of our $50,000 goal! Can you help push us over the top?

Attacks against GLBT Americans are the third most common category of hate crimes. Yet the radical right is sparing no expense as it spreads lies in an attempt to block this vital change to our democracy.

THEIR LIE: "This bill would punish thoughts and criminalize free speech."
THE TRUTH: This bill will punish vicious criminals who attack members of our communities simply because of who they are. The bill does not criminalize thoughts or speech; it only covers crimes involving bodily injury or attempted bodily injury.

THEIR LIE: "This bill gives homosexuals special treatment."
THE TRUTH: The current hate crimes law excludes violence against a person because of his or her sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability. There is nothing “special” about wanting to live free of violence in our society.

That's why we're pulling out all the stops on this campaign, with advertising, media work, grassroots outreach, intensive meetings with members of Congress, and bringing hundreds of religious leaders face-to-face with lawmakers. We can't let this opportunity pass.

We have come too far to slow down now. Let's make sure this bill passes Congress with a huge margin. Let's send it to the President's desk with broad bipartisan support. We can't afford to let a single Representative be swayed by the right's deception.

Thank you for helping us reach our goal. Time is running out, but I know we can do it with your support.

Warmly,
Joe Solmonese
President

OUR STORIES: Anthony Hergesheimer

Anthony Hergesheimer, 15, was walking home from school in Pueblo, Colorado on April 5 when six schoolmates peppered him with disparaging remarks about his openly gay lifestyle before hurling an aerosol can that struck him in the nose. Hergesheimer suffered a fractured cheekbone and was required to undergo surgery for a broken nose and other facial injuries. A total of six Pueblo High School students have been charged in the attack of a fellow student because he was gay.

Two of the students face felony charges of second-degree assault and committing a bias-motivated crime; the other four face juvenile charges. During the past two years, prosecutors have invoked Colorado's bias-crime statute in the racially motivated stabbing of a black man and the alleged assault of a jail inmate, purportedly because he was gay.

Having trouble clicking on the links above? Simply copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar to take action today: https://secure.ga3.org/03/donate1?source=w08ygmagx

Fae Frolickings at the Fair

Thank you to all our friends new and old who came by to see us at the Phoenix Pride Festival! Yes this post is belated, I've been quite busy some of which you can see if you click on the the title of this post and go to azsisters.org's photo page. And of course if you're the more patient sort, you'll eventually read all about it here.



Sisters also appeared in ECHO's post pride edition as well as (get this) azcentral! What a lovely surprise to see Sister Eve All and Sister Golden Hair Surprise on one of the more mainstream papers of the area!

This year's festival was fortunate to have beautiful weather on Saturday. Sun burns (AHHH Leprosy!) for many but no heat stroke...well the magazine was there, but no one keeled over, and THAT is a good thing! Sunday we got all got a blow job. From the wind that is, we were all covered in bits of grass, but as we told people that's ok it just looks like you went for a role in the hay!

Did you know that you can get a sun burn through white face? If you don't put sunblock on first, you certainly can. Lesson learned! Thank goodness for the Palm Springs Sisters giving us advice on how to best keep our faces protected and not melting away. Nothing more scary than a nun in melting white face!

Thankfully my face actually held up well, and even the little children were able to come unto us and recieve rainbows! Well at least this adorable little girl was. She was so facinated in us, that I gave her the rainbow ribbons I was waving all day and she celebrated her own little rainbow day!


Saturday I attended as Sister Mischif and spent most of my time cheering on TMI and flirting with woofy bears and other lovely people at the ECHO booth. Although we did take a couple tours around on the sidewalks, i t is VERY difficult to push a wheelchair on the grass!

And Sunday Brother Odd came out of the closet and gave brother blessings and teasing tongue (words that is) to all. Our trolly driver brought his mother by the ECHO booth to see the Sisters on Sunday, and she was wonderful. So loving and refreshing. I love straight parents who love their gay children! And apparently she wants to adopt me! LOL Who knew I was so loveable as Brother Odd!

The wind was wild! Sister Frankly had a devil of a time any time she tried to leave the ECHO booth, so mostly we stuck close to home base, tho we did run over to the art gallery and I must say, I was quite inspired! The rainbow piggies being painted out front were hillarious, and the copper and cactus skeleton cross indoors was gorgeous. There was so much beauty and color that we sat down and conversed with the patrons a bit before leaving for the day.

One Sister, a brother and a guard... we were quite exhausted from our 3 days of making merry and reminding people to be proud of who we are, and went home happily exhausted. Thank you again for all the loving welcome to Phoenix! We are here to serve!

Hope you enJOYed the pics!

Sister Fundraisers Cometh!

This Saturday night, join us at the Phoenix Eagle for a 50/50 raffle. Some lucky person wins 1/2 the pot, and the rest goes to the Grand Canyon Sisters.
That's Saturday April 21st 9 to midnight!

It should be tons of fun with a gaggle of glittery gigglers running amok! Sisters at The Eagle... so far they have only had me show up there in face that I know of, so it should be great fun and hilarity.

Gorgeous men in leather and silly Sisters in nun drag, sounds like a great combination to me!

And then join us for Dining out for Life on April 26th from 5:30 to 10 PM at Burger Betty's (Soon to be called Jaded) who has new owners, a new menu, and Oh my God GOOD FOOD! You've gotta taste it! I had the chicken with cranberry wine sauce when I was there, and it was SINfully delicous. A wonderful indulgence.

Plus, with all the food you order, they give a percentage towards AIDS charities. YAY!

Sisters love a worthy cause!

Fwd: PeaceCry, a Joytest in San Diego

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 19, 2007

The San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

and the LGBTSU of SDSU present

PeaceCry

A Peaceful JOYtest Against

BattleCry's Call for War Against Gays and Pop Culture

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sister Hecate, Mistress of Propaganda, InfoSPISD@yahoo.com

The San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the LGBT Student Union of SDSU invite the community to join us in PeaceCry, a gathering to spread a message of love and acceptance toward all of people outside of Cox Arena during Teen Mania's BattleCry: Acquire the Fire event on April 27 and 28.

TeenMania is a militant anti-choice evangelical political organization that lobbies the government against Gay marriage and Gay rights, reproductive rights, and medically accurate and complete sex education. It exploits homophobia to preach about the so-called evils of American popular culture, and targets its message of intolerance toward 14 – 21 year olds. The organization is run by Ron Luce, is affiliated with the Arlington Group, and its major supporters include Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Joyce Meyer, American Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, the Bush Family and, formerly, the now-completely-heterosexual Ted Haggard.

The goal of PeaceCry is to express, in a festive and loving manner, our disagreement with the TeenMania’s message of intolerance. We encourage participants to bring drums, rattles, tambourines, bubble wands, bright costumes, and other tools of love, joy, and whimsy. We request that all signs bear uplifting, loving messages. While we disagree with TeenMania’s message, we do not wish to demonize them as they have demonized us.

The SD Sisters and the LGBTSU of SDSU will meet at Aztec Center on SDSU campus at 4:00 pm Friday, April 27 and 11:30 am Saturday, April 28. We will march together from Aztec Center to Cox Arena, where PeaceCry will be held. PeaceCry will continue until 7:00 pm Friday and 5:00 pm Saturday. We welcome all who want to help us spread our message Peace, Love, Light, Hope, and Joy

About the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a leading-edge Order of missionary nuns. Since their first appearance in San Francisco, Easter Weekend 1979, the Sisters have been accused of “Ruining it for Everyone” with their habitual injection of gaiety into serious affairs including human rights, political activism and religious intolerance. The Sisters consider it their mission to “ruin” all detrimental conditions including complacency, guilt and the inability to laugh at oneself.

Founded in 2005, the Asylum of the Tortured Heart Incorporated, or the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization composed of men and women dedicated to the support, education and development of the diverse communities of San Diego.

Their mission is to bring joy to the heart and liberation of the spirit wherever it is needed: in the bar, the bathhouse, the parade, the hospice, the youth shelter, the health center and the street.

The Sisters, as true nuns, follow the traditions of the women over the centuries who have dedicated their lives to selfless service for the betterment of their communities taking vows to serve each other, their neighbors and all San Diegans.

For more information on the Asylum of the Tortured Heart, please visit their website at www.sdsisters.org or email at InfoSPISD@yahoo.com.

- END -

EDIT:
More info:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 23, 2007

CALL FOR PROTEST OF FUNDAMENTALIST YOUTH “WAR” RALLY

MEDIA CONTACT:
Ben Cartwright, LGBTSU exec dir.

bcartwright@cox.net, (619) 316-9197

Sister Iona Dubble-Wyde, community activist

srionadubblewyde@yahoo.com, (619) 929-9935

SAN DIEGO — Gay community and youth activists call for peaceful protests April 27^th at San Diego Cox Arena of Teenmania’s fundamentalist kids rally teaching anti-gay intolerance and war culture to seduce and prey upon teenagers.

“Teenagers and young adults should be taught love and respect not war ideas and intolerance,” states Ben Cartwright, Executive Director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Student Union at San Diego State University, “we need to stop hate-crimes and a war against anyone including gay people is simply wrong.”

People in San Diego were angered and stunned recently by brutal hate-crime attacks after last year’s gay Pride event. Community groups have responded to stop the violence and attacks against minorities but fundamentalist youth rallies promoting intolerance don’t help.

“TeenMania’s agenda is to make these young adults interpret the Bible literally with a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism complete with violent imagery in Jesus’ name,” say Sister Iona Dubble-Wyde of the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, “Jesus was non-violent.”

The controversial youth event was recently condemned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors stating in part: “It is an act of provocation when a right-wing Christian fundamentalist group brings their anti-gay and anti-choice agenda of intolerance to the steps of San Francisco.”

Activists are concerned by the extreme nature, cult-like methodology and violent imagery used to prey on the youth. A popular Christian evangelical minister, Gary DeMar, recently stated "I would execute gays only if we catch them indulging in sodomy.” Similar doomsday language and veiled calls for violence based on strict Biblical teachings are part of a larger agenda to whip up fear in the name of security.

Ron Luce, a Bush appointee to the Anti-drug Task Force and Teenmania president, hopes to raise a youth army to enact laws based on Biblical interpretation. Some have criticized Teenmania as being a Christian fascist movement, citing frequent militant statements by him at his youth rallies such as "This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent — the ‘forceful’ ones — will lay hold of the kingdom," and exhorting his young followers to proclaim in unison "I will keep my eyes on the battle, submitting to your code even when I don’t understand."

Organizers welcome all peace and social-justice activists and hope to put a face in front of the youth so the young teenagers can see who they are being taught to hate and that love doesn’t come with a violent agenda and doesn’t cost $50/ticket.

Organizers want to remind you to dial 911 if you are attacked and to report all hate crimes.

About the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a leading-edge Order of missionary nuns. Since their first appearance in San Francisco, Easter Weekend 1979, the Sisters have been accused of “Ruining it for Everyone” with their habitual injection of gaiety into serious affairs including human rights, political activism and religious intolerance. The Sisters consider it their mission to “ruin” all detrimental conditions including complacency, guilt and the inability to laugh at oneself.

Founded in 2005, the Asylum of the Tortured Heart Incorporated, or the San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization composed of men and women dedicated to the support, education and development of the diverse communities of San Diego.

Their mission is to bring joy to the heart and liberation of the spirit wherever it is needed: in the bar, the bathhouse, the parade, the hospice, the youth shelter, the health center and the street.

The Sisters, as true nuns, follow the traditions of the women over the centuries who have dedicated their lives to selfless service for the betterment of their communities taking vows to serve each other, their neighbors and all San Diegans.

For more information on the Asylum of the Tortured Heart, please visit their website at www.sdsisters.org or email at InfoSPISD@yahoo.com.

- END -

.

Sisters on Parade!

This Novice is still recovering from Pride, and I'm just now getting to write about the Pride Parade! It was that fabulous and exhausting! As Dolly would say, "it takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap!" and I would add...energy!

The second day of pride started at 6am and ended after midnight. Rather than recall everything moment by moment, I thought I'd share a bit about the parade here, and show you some of our pics. Thank you to Carlie and D'Marie for taking such lovely pictures!

You can also see some fabulous pics of two of our Palm Springs Sisters, Novice Sister Eve All and Novice Sister Golden Hair Surprise, in (of all places) the usually concervative paper, AZ Central. You can see the slide show here: http://www.azcentral.com/slideshow/azcentral/4815/1/23/

As you can see we were again joined by Novice Sister Bubbles of the Los Angeles Order. She can be seen in the blue dress and flying nun style coronet at the center of the second picture. We were also joined by many sisters from the Palm Springs Order. I can't thank them enough for their support and inspiration. Not to mention the makeup tips! Pristine makeup and colorful outfits everywhere I looked! It was wonderful!

The Phoenix men's Chorus made every Sister take notice with their Devil loves Prada float! I wanted to climb up in it myself! LOL Unfortunatly none of the boys were around to ask when I stopped by. Too bad too, I have a thing for men with pipes!



Because of our early arrival on the scene, we were able to run around and visit with those who would later be in the parade, as well as get a glimpse of some of the other floats. This was the largest Phoenix Pride Parade yet with 200 floats!
One of my favorites was what I termed, "The very gay cross" in representation of a local GLBT friendly congregation. So friendly, that they even let me pose near it! in my belly dancing drag nun outfit! Gotta love those GLBT friendly churches, they really get it!

It was really special to me to finally be in a pride parade, as that's the first place I saw a Sister myself as a child. I strove to make people laugh, smile, and feel beautiful and loved just like Sister X-plosion made me feel back then.

Some of my favorite moments came while actually in the parade, riding in...or dangling out of, the trolly which ECHO magazine provided and singing along to the songs pouring from our speaker "We are family, I've got all my Sisters with me!" I loved speaking with the visiting Sisters before and after the parade, waving at folks, taking pictures of people and reminding them that they're beautiful... sexy gay boys taking their shirts off in the heat... a kilted leather boi running up to lick my foot where it dangled off the trolly.... Novice Sister Goldie roller skating beside me while holding onto the trolly... convincing the man sitting next to me to snap a picture of Sister Mary Margaret Xplosion catching some shade under a tree (I hope he'll send me that pic!) and so much more. I really can't pinpoint just one thing to share about, but you can see even more pictures than I've shared here by clicking on the title of this blog, or by visiting www.azsisters.org

Friday Night Follies with Friends

Friday night The Grand Canyon Sisters gathered in the ECHO parking lot where they provided us with a bus and a sexy bus driver who was straight as they come, but ever so silly and willing to joke around with us. I was pleased to see Bubbles riding in with Odora in a white convertible with the top down, looking for all the world like thelma and louise as drag nuns.

I'd like to thank Tim of ECHO magazine for providing us with everything he did, not just the bus, but a trolly the next day for the pride parade, and big ol banners welcoming us! What a fabulous way to make the Sisters feel at home in Phoenix and help us get our PRIDE on! It was great having him ride along with us, the sexy thang!

We enjoyed going out and introducing ourselves to people at the various bars, and it was nice to get to chat with the Sisters from out of town a bit too! Towards the end of the night, I found myself parking my ass near Mary Margaret X-plosion, and we had a very inspiring conversation! Unfortunatly I don't have a pic to share with you.

But then of course you know, this is Sister Mischif's blog so it's ALL about me darlings! If you want to see pictures of more of the Sisters we were out with that night, then go to azsisters.org and visit the photos page!

Novice Sister Leavia from Grand Canyon Sisters and The Sisters from Palm Springs were great fun at Friends! Sometimes it felt like there were almost more Sisters than anyone else there! But I couldn't really tell from my 'chair I was eyelevel with crotch and ass but could hardly see over the table tops. I can't say I minded too much!

And I can't get over the way those Palm Springs Sisters do their makeup. I hope they will continue sharing tips and tricks with us. Most of them are novices (other than Sister Mary Margaret X-plosion) so from above, we must have looked like a sea of white fluttering in the breeze. What a beautiful sight it must have been!

And speaking of beautiful, look at Sister Leavia's dress. We should have posed together with all our red, we looked fabulous!

Well, I didn't manage to get all the way through my ale before we had to move on to the next bar, but what's a nun to do, I passed my cup to someone taller and closer to the bar who was kind enough to pass off my glass for me and we hustled our bustles out the door to Charlies where I passed out cards about the Saturday night Adonis party, ran into some old friends and met some lovely people visiting from out of town. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of pics to share from Charlies, tho I'm hoping the one of Sister X-plosion's head in my crotch gets sent to me! If anyone has the group photos, please send them to srmischif@azsisters.org I must say, I always enjoy Charlies, but I had never been to the next bar before, and you know how I like shiney new cherrylicous experiences!

Apollos knows how to treat a nun right! Good God they were gracious and plentiful in plying us with drinks. I discovered my new holy water, Absolut Vodka with fruity flavors in it. Another cherry is popped! Thank goodness for Carlie, who I think was named "Guard Spike" this weekend, she helped me safely push my chair despite me.

I am sad to say that I don't remember the name of the lovely woman who I spoke with there about the new shelter for transgender women, but I gave her my card, so hopefully she will contact me now that pride is over as I would love to put together a fundraiser in conjunction with her for said shelter!

Slightly sloshed, but nun the worse for wear, I climbed back into the bus where I shimmied and sang my way to our final bar, Kobalt! "The Sisters go marching one by one hoorah hoorah, the Sisters go marching one by one, come join us now to have some fun and we all go marching far, to the bar, to get out of the sun!"

See us at Pride and in ECHO!

Come see us in the parade, at ECHO's booth, and all over the Pride Festival!

Phoenix Pride Parade & Festival, April 14-15 at Steele Indian School Park, Central Avenue and Indian School Road, Phoenix. Single day tickets are $15, weekend passes $25. Information, 602-277-7433 or www.phoenixpride.org.

Until then, you can see us in the newest issue of Echo Magazine apparently... tho they got me confused with Brother Odd Lee Lookedat, my brother persona, the picture is of me! Obviously we just need to get Brother Odd outa the closet so people can learn the difference between a Brother and a Sister! That's one of the joys of Missionary life right? Here's a snap shot of Brother Odd who you might also see out at Pride!

I haven't even gotten to see it in person myself yet, but will be getting a copy of ECHO tonight at the Grand Canyon Sisters' business meeting, so if you pick up an issue today while you're out and about, you're beatin me to it! And if you're not in the area, check it out online at http://www.echomag.com/ in the "Features" section.

Greg, ECHO's photographer did an amazing job taking pictures of a whole slew of we sisters and you can see some of them in this month's ECHO mag. Maybe he'll come to Pride and take pictures of us in action, who knows! Sisters end up in pictures a lot of the time. I'm ready for the cameras Mr Demille :P

All Fools Day!

I fully enjoyed being out with the Missionary Order of the Grand Canyon Sisters for our first group manifestation! It was wonderful to bring our blessings to some of the bars in the Phoenix area, and speak with people from all over. Phoenix is like that, you never know where the people you meet are from. Some were visiting, but many had moved here from other places. A city of transplants, welcoming a flood of new Sisters to their bars. It was quite fun and interesting! I'm sure we left quite an impression. Follow the link on the title for a full set of pictures or of course you can view them on the photos page of azsisters.org! My thanks to slaveboi Carlie for taking the pictures and watching over me last night, and for a dear friend I call "Twink" for the lovely habit!

And here's one of me with Novices Sister Frankly Truself and Father Peter Licka de Coque:


The crowd at Nu-Town Saloon was huge! Who knew so many others would be out celebrating All Fools Day! I think we should make it an annual event! We passed out condoms, answered tons of questions about what the Grand Canyon Sisters are all about, passed out Sister blessings and invited people to come see us at Phoenix Pride the 14th and 15th, and at Burger Betty's on the 26th for our first charity event, "Dining out for Life". I'm looking forward to seeing all our new friends out and about!

Nvc Sr Mischif
Missionary Order of the Grand Canyon Sisters
http://www.azsisters.org