How the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence went from a drag show to a queer movement

The world has a Roman Catholic convent to thank for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. In 1976, a group of Iowa nuns lent their habits to what they thought was a production of The Sound of Music. In actuality, it was a drag show.

These holy garments found their way to the West Coast in the care of one of these borrowers, Ken Bunch. In 1979, Bunch, along with friends Fred Brungard and Baruch Golden, dusted off the habits for a march through the streets of San Francisco on Easter weekend. Their goal was to break up the conformity of the “Castro Clone” era — in which gay men adopted a blue-collar uniform of Levi’s jeans and plaid shirts. What they did was spark the beginning of a movement.

Later that year, Bunch (Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch), Brungard (Sister Missionary Position), Edmund Garron (Hysterectoria), and Bill Graham (Reverend Mother) founded the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag advocacy and charity group with the mission “to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt,” as its website now attests.

Still shot from Hunky Jesus

A new documentary, Hunky Jesus, chronicles the story of the Sisterhood’s unlikely beginnings, its lifesaving work of providing care and distributing safer-sex pamphlets during the AIDS crisis, its headline-making confrontation of Pope Jean Paul II during this era, and its activism in the modern-day LGBTQ+ movement.

At Frameline: The San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the film’s director, Jennifer M. Kroot (To Be Takei), shared that she had always wanted to make a project about the Sisters. As a Bay Area native, she long admired the countercultural spirit embodied by the organization.

Kroot found an opportunity to tell this story through filming Hunky Jesus. “My secret plan was to interweave it with the history of the Sisters,” she shared onstage at S.F.’s storied Castro Theatre before the screening.

Hunky Jesus director Jennifer M. KrootHunky Jesus

Started by the Sisters in 1995, Hunky Jesus is an annual satirical competition in which contestants present creative interpretations of Christ and the Virgin Mary. (This year’s winners — the “Hunky Jesus” and “Foxy Mary” — were Renewable Energy Jesus and Santa Maria de Exorcism, for example).

Held on Easter Sunday in Mission Dolores Park, the event is irreverent queer fun that epitomizes the spirit of the Sisters. It’s also habitually drawn the ire of conservatives, who accuse the drag nuns of mocking Christianity. (One viral 2023 performance, showcased in Hunky Jesus, involves a memorably gay Jesus-and-Mary striptease.)

In the annual Hunky Jesus competition, contestants servecreative Christ interpretations.Hunky Jesus

However, the documentary (and the Sisters) argue persuasively that their work in community service, raising charitable funds, and yes, using humor to highlight bigotry and injustice, is also Christlike.

As Sister Roma, a prominent member of this order featured in the documentary, described at Frameline: “Hunky Jesus is more than a documentary about a thing that happens. As Sisters, it is our gift and responsibility to bring joy to those around us; challenge the systems, institutions, and ideologies that oppress us; and serve as a beacon of hope for anyone who feels disenfranchised, left behind, or on the fringes.”

Sister RomaHunky Jesus

“In so many ways, the Sisters just embody what it means to be San Franciscan,” added Honey Mahogany, an Honorary Saint of the local order, later in the evening. “And as long as the Sisters continue to exist here, San Francisco will be amazing.”

Hunky Jesus is currently touring film festivals. Learn more at hunkyjesusfilm.com.

This article is part of The Advocate's Sept-Oct 2026 print issue, on newsstands September 1. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News+, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting August 20.

Nancy Pelosi photographed for The Advocate's September-October cover. Photography by Mike Nelson Photography by Mike Nelson