In an act of defiance and response to the Lieutenant Governor’s priority bill SB 18 to ban drag performance along with numerous bills introduced into the Texas House that further attack drag performers and transgender people, Cathedral of Hope will host its second Celebrating Drag Sunday on Sunday, Feb. 16 at its 8.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. services. During the services, they will bless and affirm those who use drag as an art form and affirm their transgender siblings made in the image of God.
In a statement, the church acknowledged, “We understand that gender and gender identity has been highlighted in recent weeks. We understand that there is a difference between drag as an art form and transgender as an identity. However, these are often conflated and politicized, often determined as sin by Christianity. Our aim is to lift up these communities as a part of the LGBTQ+ community and their impact on our movement.”
“We do not believe that God makes mistakes”, said the Rev. Dr. Neil G Thomas, senior minister of Cathedral of Hope UCC. “God is beyond gender and invites us to bring our whole selves into the world to make it a better place. Drag has a long history in our community and targeting them will be resisted. As a community of faith, we stand with our drag and transgender community. Using faith language as a mandate for these targeted attacks is a travesty and an infringement of civil liberties.”
The guest preacher will be the Rev. Brooke Dooley, associate pastor for youth and young adults at Friends Congregational Church in College Station and youth director for the South-Central Conference of the United Church of Christ. Dooley is also known as Brooke Bottom, a well-known drag king performer throughout the DFW region.
— David Taffet
Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will make it to heaven but he who does the will of the Father. And they are doing the devil’s will who started LGBTQ in the 1st place.