Historic Presbyterian church in San Franciso hosts all-ages 'Drag Queen Bible Story Hour'
For the first time in nearly 200 years, a Presbyterian church in San Francisco held Sunday services featuring drag performers speaking to audiences that included young children.
Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco hosted a “Drag Queen Bible Story Hour” event Sunday with LGBT advocate Rev. Jane Spahr and performers “Joann Fabrixxx” and “Flamy Grant.”
The church thanked God for the “gift of drag queens” and shared images of the event on social media.
A Facebook post from June 18 read in part: “... We thank God for the great diversity present in this world and hold to the truth that each and every one of us is created in God's image and loved by God. For the gift of Drag Queens, O God, we give you thanks!” #DragQueenBibleStoryHour
The Rev. Victor Floyd told a local NBC affiliate that Calvary Presbyterian held the event in response to “hateful rhetoric” against drag performers in churches.
“We’re hoping to offer a little balance to all of the hateful rhetoric that is out in the country and especially from churches and politicians, who are using churches and using trans people and drag queens as their props,” Floyd was quoted as saying.
Spahr, a self-described lesbian evangelist who has advocated for gay ordination in the PCUSA as far back as 1993, was convicted by a denominational PCUSA commission in 2010 for violating her ordination vows by conducting same-sex marriage ceremonies.
In 2015, PCUSA voted to approve an amendment to its constitution to officially change their definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
Calvary Presbyterian, which was founded as a congregation in July 1854, has been named as an official San Francisco landmark and is included in the United States National Registry of Historic Places.
The church also has advocated for using third-person pronouns for God and even has a banner hanging above the church entryway which reads, “GOD: the original they/them.”
Calvary Presbyterian’s drag performance is the latest in a wave of churches not just in San Francisco but across the U.S. hosting men dressed in women’s clothing to teach audiences of all ages.
Last month, protesters, drag performers and at least one adult in a “furry” costume attended a so-called “family-friendly drag show” that was moved to a local church at the last minute.
Kids were seen on video attending the “Pride Prom” event hosted by Grayson County Pride in Sherman, Texas, located about 65 miles north of Dallas.
Another group of protesters, The New Columbia Movement, a Catholic advocacy group, marched with a flag reading “DEFEND PURITY, REJECT PERVERSION” were also on hand as they “prayed the rosary alongside locals” at the event.
In October 2022, a United Methodist Church pastor in Florida invited a man dressed in women’s clothing to preach a sermon with children seated next to him.
Allendale UMC Senior Pastor Andy Oliver said he invited Isaac Simmons, who performs in drag as “Ms. Penny Cost,” to deliver the sermon on Oct. 2 because he wants “all people to see people like themselves called by God to preach the Gospel.”
In a Facebook post, Oliver wrote that Simmons — who was seen in a video clip of the service wearing a wig and a sequin dress — was “an angel in heels appearing to shepherds in the fields on the night shift, telling them that Good News had arrived on their doorstep.”
