Drag Queen Disciples
It brings me deep joy to witness other people living their joy, celebrating in the festivity of the coming together of nations, the opportunity to share their culture, the absolutely divinely-inspired, full embodiment of who they are, the sharing of their gifts and talents.
Maybe some of us are forgetting what joy is. Maybe it’s the pandemic, the political landscape, the fear of facism and Christian Nationalism, the ongoing police murders of Black people like Sonya Massey, the unending school shootings and gun violence, climate change, grief, numbness, our own personal struggles, and so much more. Maybe it’s all stealing our joy or our ability to tolerate others’ joy.
It brings me deep joy to imagine Jesus as Barbara Butch (she/her/elle) a Love activist, DJ, and producer; a beautiful, tattooed, curvy, lesbian woman, hands formed into the same heart shape that my three-year old son excitedly and lovingly flashes, “Mommy, heart, mommy. Heart!”
It brings me deep joy to imagine Jesus’ disciples embodied as drag queens Nicky Doll, Giselle Palmer, Paloma, and Piche. And as children, people of various skin colors, religions, ages, body shapes, abilities, gender identities, and sexualities. Humanity in our joy.
By now many of you have witnessed the online arguments about the drag queen tableau in the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony. The debate for progressives seems stuck in intellectualist pursuit of truth. Namely that the scene was depicting the fifth century Athens feast of Dionysus, not the Last Supper. The Greek Festivals of Dionysus included the performance and judging of tragedies and comedies (theater) and celebration of the maturing of the previous year’s wine vintage and the beginning of spring.
This scene from the opening ceremony was an intersectional, inclusive homage to the Olympics’ Greek heritage and the French culture of exquisite food and fashion. A “festivité tableau to celebrate Love, inclusivity, diversity through music & dance to unite all of Us,” wrote Barbara Butch.
And also, the truth about whether the scene was a depiction of the Last Supper or the feast of Dionysus, isn’t what is important. Judging the other side for historical inaccuracy, lack of cultural awareness, or being uneducated is the calling card of progressives. I’m easily at fault for that too at times; wielding my education and knowledge as some kind of arbiter of legal and moral authority, to decide disputes particularly between conservative and progressive Christians.
An intellectual argument alone is not going to fix what’s going on in certain parts of the Christian Church around the globe.
What too many progressives are missing is the real harm that the conservative Christian reaction is causing. And that harm is not reduced by our incredulousness at a false interpretation of the tableau. Nor is that harm reduced by our clamoring for Christian unity, “that they all may be one,” as the UCC motto states.
Why was the scene at the opening ceremony so “insulting” to swaths of Christians around the world? Because drag queens and queer-identified people of diverse skin tones were center stage on a global stage. It was a beautiful act of centering the margins by the ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly (he/him). In an interview with British Vogue, Jolly said that his work would only be a success “if everyone feels represented in it.”
Nicky Doll (she/her/he/him), one of the Olympic torch bearers and performers during the opening ceremony segment wrote this on her Instagram Stories Monday morning, "The opening ceremony did ruffle some feathers… and I LOVE it. You know why? Because the Olympics are the biggest stage in the world and us queer people have always been the audience of other people’s life and achievement and it is time that we are welcome in the space. And remember, to the ones that had their feathers ruffled seeing queerness on their screen: WE AIN’T GOING NOWHERE."
I won’t repeat the language here, but there is a tremendous amount of degrading, dehumanizing, and sexually violent language and threats aimed at drag queens and queer-identified people being spread and megaphoned by individual social media posts and news outlets around the world. It happens regularly, and also, the Olympics opening ceremony is a flash point, a moment in time where anger and violence ignite.
The anger and violence is about gender and sexuality, the science of which we U.S.-Americans have inadequate education about, which is compounded by conservative Christianity’s harmful theology and practices of purity culture, deep-seeded misogyny, allowances for the pleasure of heterosexual men only, a lack of understanding about how reproductive organs and processes work, and a fear of the vastness of sexuality that doesn’t fit into a small prescribed box constructed from out-of-context scriptural threads from the Hebrew text.
This anger and violence not only harms those already marginalized in society, it is a form of self-harm. An avoidance of exploring and learning about one’s own true nature, and being taught that certain aspects of gender and sexuality are morally wrong. So that when you feel something different about yourself, you are forced to shut it down, shove it into the deepest parts of yourself. Hidden truths burn, twist, and contort our inner world, and can come out as projections against those who are free of the same pain and boundedness. A hatred of joy, because your joy is silenced.
Unsilence your joy, your inner self, find safe people, imagine a whole table of drag queen disciples on a global stage embodying God’s glory, God’s beloved, God’s joy that we would all be free.
Take Action
So, what do progressive Christians have to offer in response? Choose to let our faith, heart, and spirit lead, rather than just our intellectualism. There are many actions one can take, here are just a few:
Be open to, affirm, and celebrate that drag queen disciples are real. Whether they were on the Olympic opening ceremony stage or not, drag queen disciples are part of our families, friends, churches, schools, workplaces, and communities.
Visit and follow the Instagram pages of the performers from the opening ceremony and leave loving, supportive, and affirming comments to counter the threats and hate that they’ve been receiving:
You’ll notice that many haven’t posted about the Olympics opening ceremony, perhaps because Barbara Butch has been receiving threats of death, torture, and rape. This is the violence that needs to be countered with love.
Make a donation to support Juniper Formation’s Gender & Sexuality Liberation Ministry, so that we can work with more congregations and communities to develop self knowledge and communal wisdom about the expansiveness of gender and sexuality. This includes developing safe places for LGBTQIA+ youth, who are at high risk for durg and alcohol abuse, self harm, and suicide.
Reach out to Candace@juniperformation.org to schedule a Trans and Gender Expansiveness training for your congregation, community group, or denominational setting.
Buy a shirt. We designed one especially for this moment in Olympic-theological history! Or purchase other items from our Juniper Formation store, where all proceeds support the ministries of Juniper Formation, including our Gender and Sexuality Liberation ministry.
