Let’s start today with a nice shot of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Here’s what they say about themselves on their home page:
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns. We believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty.
Since our first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, 1979, the Sisters have devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.
We use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.
The Sisters have been regular invitees to the LA Dodgers Pride nights, honoring the LGBTQ+ community. This year, they were going to receive a special Community Hero Award in recognition of their good work. But then the Dodgers reversed direction and told the Sisters to go f*ck themselves.
According to the NYT, the decision came after heavy pressure from conservative Catholic organizations, including the Catholic League and CatholicVote, and after Senator Marco Rubio wrote to MLB Commish Rob Manfred questioning whether the inclusion of the Sisters would be “inclusive and welcoming to Christians.”
The Sisters released a statement expressing their outrage. Owl Chatter reproduces it in full below, but wishes to highlight the following:
“To be condemned by representatives of the Catholic Church is particularly ironic, given that organization’s long history of condoning and concealing the sexual abuse of children. It’s a statistical fact that children are at less risk in the company of drag queens than clergy.”
Here’s the entire statement:
The Dodgers capitulated in response to hateful and misleading information from people outside their community, who target not only the LGBTQQ++ community but also women’s autonomy over their bodies, people and communities of color, and other faiths and nationalities.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, condemned the Sisters as a “blatantly perverted, sexual and disgusting anti-Catholic hate-group.” This is simply not true. The Sisters began in 1979 in response to the AIDS crisis, when gay men, who their faiths and families had abandoned because of their orientation, were sick and dying. The Sisters were among the first to raise money to help care for people with AIDS and to create and distribute safer-sex information.
In the decades since, the Sisters have grown with chapters across the world. They are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that annually raises thousands of dollars to distribute to organizations supporting marginalized communities. They support other groups, including several mainstream churches, in their work. Sisters are regularly called upon to minister to the sick, the dying, and the mourning.
“Our ministry is real. We promulgate universal joy, expiate stigmatic guilt, and our use of religious trappings is a response to those faiths whose members would condemn us and seek to strip away the rights of marginalized communities,” said Sister Rosie Partridge, abbess of the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
The Sisters are not anti-Catholic, but an organization based on love, acceptance, and celebrating human diversity. To be condemned by representatives of the Catholic Church is particularly ironic, given that organization’s long history of condoning and concealing the sexual abuse of children. It’s a statistical fact that children are at less risk in the company of drag queens than clergy. Yet, the LGBTQQ++ communities are consistently targeted by the right, because it is easier to foment fear of the unfamiliar than to take a hard look at very real threats ranging from gun violence to global warming.
Do not let people who hate us all decide that some parts of our community are more tolerable than others, that some shall be seated at the table while others are locked out. We all stand on the shoulders of brave souls who endured much to get us this far and we owe it to them, and those yet to come, to condemn the voices of haters at every turn. The struggle continues, but we look forward to a better, more inclusive world where human diversity is seen as an advantage, not something to fear.
With their craven and idiotic decision, the Dodgers stepped on a hornets nest. Other groups are dropping out in support of the Sisters.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has pulled out. The ACLU pointed out that the Dodgers, who broke baseball’s color line with Jackie Robinson in 1947, had previously been “champions of inclusion.”
LA Pride, organizers of the LA Pride Parade and Festival, said that their organization will also not attend the event. The group, which claims to have organized the world’s first permitted parade advocating for gay rights in 1970, said it was “very disappointed” in the team, which it described as a longtime partner.
“This feels personal for me both as a queer person but also as someone from East L.A., as an Angeleno,” said Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist, public intellectual and “multigenerational Dodger fan” who protested the team’s action. “It feels humiliating to be a Dodger fan right now.” And here’s a nice touch: “I saw someone tweeting that they hoped that the Giants would invite [the Sisters] to throw the [first] pitch,” the physicist said. “You can’t let the Giants upstage you.”
For the Dodgers, Pride Night has become a growing and essential component of each season. Last year, the Dodgers wore custom-designed, rainbow-colored logo caps (see below) for a game during what Eric Braverman, the club’s senior vice-president of marketing, communications and broadcasting, said “has become one of the most anticipated nights of the season.”
It is still possible the Dodgers will reverse course and do the right thing. The ghost of Jackie Robinson is watching.
I had several exchanges with students during the final exam in my Business Law class. The first one was my favorite type of exchange. A young woman came up and asked me about one of the True/False questions: It was about a negotiable instrument, and the question was: True or false: Once an instrument is “order paper,” it cannot be changed to “bearer paper” via an endorsement.
So she comes up, points to it on the exam paper, and asks me: “If an instrument is order paper, can an endorsement change it to bearer paper?” I looked at her for a second. Then I said: “That’s the question I’m asking you. That’s what you have to tell me.”
That happens once every few years and I cherish each time.
The next one involved a young man. The question was on the point that an instrument must be in writing to be negotiable, but the definition of “writing” is very broad. You can write it on a banana and it passes that test. It can be a negotiable banana. So my question on the test was, can an instrument be negotiable if it’s written on the side of a cantaloupe. And it was driving this one very good student nuts. He came up to me twice about it. The second time went like this:
Student: “What do you even mean by a cantaloupe?”
Me: “You know, a melon.”
Student: Was it cut in half?
Me: No.
Student: How do you even do it?
Me: You’ve never written on a cantaloupe? I’d use a Sharpie.
Student: Did you cover this in class?
Me: Yes, but in class it was a banana.
It turned out that was the only question he got wrong on all three tests. I gave him an A+.
We went down to Philly today to pay our respects to Judy in light of Hank’s passing last week. It was great to see her, and her beautiful new apartment. Judy — that Michigan beer in your fridge is from us. In case any of your guests might enjoy one. I forgot to mention that we brought them.
Judy played a video for us. Hank recorded it as a birthday greeting to mutual friend Jack during the pandemic, when they couldn’t get together. It was wonderful — funny, well-executed, and very Hank. It warmed our hearts. We didn’t get to see Hank during his illness — this video left us with a very good last image of him.
We stopped at Dallesandro’s nearby for cheesesteaks before the visit. What a great place! There are constant lines down the block and the wait is a good half hour. But so what? The cheesesteaks are huge and perfect. I’m not exaggerating — there must be 50 billion pounds of meat on each one. Totally not greasy. You’ve got to figure out the system — what window to go to when, and what to order, but if I could do it, you could do it. Everything takes place outside — you order, you wait, you pick up your order. There are a couple of tables outside, but mostly people take their orders away. We will certainly make it back there again at some point.
Good night everybody! See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 