Last week, California's first Muslim state legislator condemned an anti-Catholic horde of drag queens after one of its ranking members, a gay-pornographic director, was among the ultra-liberal legislature's laundry list of LGBTQ honorees for Pride Month.
Brandishing a "Religious Bigotry Is Bigotry" sign, Assemblyman Bill Essayli—the first Muslim American elected to the state legislature—walked off the Assembly floor Monday at the California state Capitol in protest of a Senate-led Pride recognition ceremony honoring an activist drag-queen performer from the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," whose transvestite devotees cross-dress as Roman Catholic nuns and assume vile, sacrilegious names, such as "Sisters Porn Again" and "T'aint A Virgin."
Imagine a world where the first Muslim state legislator in California’s history stood up in solidarity with Catholics against hate speech….and no major media outlets covered it…
— Faulkner ☠️ (@chrisfaulkner) June 6, 2023
His name is @billessayli and it’s real. pic.twitter.com/HCy4u0aSH0
"This group engages in outrageous displays of mockery and ridicule against more than one billion Catholics worldwide," Essayli, a Republican and the son of Lebanese immigrants, wrote in a scathing Instagram post on Monday night. "An attack against one faith is an attack on all faith. Bigotry of any kind cannot be tolerated, or worse yet, formally dignified by the State of California."
The so-called "Sisters," whose motto is "Go forth and sin some more!"—a perversion of Jesus's command from John 8:11 to "Go and sin no more," are known for their public denigration of the Catholic faith. This past Easter Sunday, the "Order" hosted a "Jesus and Mary-themed striptease" at San Fran's Dolores Park where a pole dancer was "writhing upside down on a large wooden cross," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A viral video on Twitter showed a male stripper gyrating on another man pretending to be the crucified Christ. Shirtless men were also there competing to be crowned the "hunkiest" Jesus along with contestants vying to win the group's longtime "Foxy Mary" contest, in which a pro-abortion version of the Virgin Mary won.
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Dodgers pitcher @ClaytonKersh22 has Col. 3:23 in his bio: "Whatever you do, work at it w/ all your heart as working for the Lord." Manager Dave Roberts has said, "My relationship w/ Christ is the most important thing in my life." Will they be silent as @Dodgers honor this group? pic.twitter.com/ZVMbrtEpmK
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) May 23, 2023
And here are the winners! Behold!
— The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (@SFSisters) April 12, 2023
Foxy Mary: Free Choice Mary
Hunky Jesus: Haus of Jesus
(photos by the amazing Gooch) pic.twitter.com/690qd0HcAT
The GOP freshman lawmaker also blasted state Sen. Scott Wiener in an Instagram story, where he photographed the Democrat escorting his guest of "dis-honor," Bay Area fetishist Michael Williams a.k.a. "Sister Roma," en route to the Assembly chamber.
Bill Essayli (Instagram)
Caked in drag makeup, the longtime San Francisco-based "Sister" trotted out, wearing a black jumpsuit and a headset of feathery plumes in imitation of a nun's habit, to receive an award recognizing the drag queen's pro-LGBTQ career highlights.
What's excluded from the Assembly speech is Williams being a 20-year veteran in the "adult film industry" where he currently serves as the communications ambassador and "art director" producing pornography for NakedSword/Falcon Studios Group, the #1 gay-porn site with the most-watched gay pornos. A regular fixture at "adult entertainment" red-carpet events, Williams has presented pornography award shows across America like Chicago's Grabbys, GayVNs in Los Angeles, and the Cybersockets.
Promoting the 2007 "all-ages" Folsom Street Fair, where naked men offered oral sex on the streets and toddler-sized bondage gear was sold with pacifer ball-gags strapped to child mannequins, Williams was featured front-and-center for an ad alongside well-known LGBTQ figures in fetish attire recreating Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." In the controversial advertisement calling on fellow bondage-enthusiasts to "prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth," Williams was seated at a table draped with the Gay Leather Pride flag and cluttered with sex toys, whips, and a hoard of various BDSM-style restraints.
At the festival itself, the "Sisters" were the gatekeepers, under a decades-long partnership, allowing entry to thousands of children as young as two-years-old, who found themselves "surrounded by strangers in fishnets and leather crotch pouches, semi and fully nude men." Even publicly masturbating attendees objected to the kids' presence at the sadomasochistic fair.
One vendor had bondage gear for toddlers.
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 26, 2023
There were “little-kid-sized mannequins in baby blue and girly pink leather hoods, gas masks, and, of course, pacifier ball gags.”
And the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were there, as always. pic.twitter.com/M6Itwb4l3E
Echoing last month's Los Angeles Dodgers drag-queen drama involving the same Ru Paul rejects at the center of anti-Catholic controversy, statehouse Republicans had demanded that Williams be disinvited from attending Monday's commemorative Assembly session, hosted by the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus as part of a daylong, annual Pride celebration.
Essayli's exit was in lockstep with a GOP walkout, spearheaded by Minority Leader James Gallagher, while hundreds of Catholics, including nuns, priests, and pastors, held a prayer vigil outside on the Capitol steps praying for the Sisters' salvation.
The prayer vigil outside ends as a group of nuns, priests, monks and ordained pastors lead the crowd in reciting the "Lord's Prayer." A few hundred people showed up to protest the #PrideMonth event inside the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/vWsXLNANMF
— Dustin Gardiner (@dustingardiner) June 5, 2023
While the CA Leg. was honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Christian hate group — hundreds of Catholic + Protestant leaders + parishioners gathered to pray, sing hymns, and stand up against religious bigotry. pic.twitter.com/iM2tjoKB6E
— Tanner DiBella (@tannerdibella) June 7, 2023
During the planned Republican protest, Williams was met with an eruption of cheers from the Democrat-majority room dotted with an assortment of handheld rainbow-themed flags and foldable fans signaling support for transgender, non-binary, and gay pride.
Her recognition occurred without incident. Outside, some conservative groups held a prayer vigil to protest @SisterRoma and the @SFSisters. pic.twitter.com/SzfKKhU0gN
— Dustin Gardiner (@dustingardiner) June 5, 2023
After Republicans criticized Sister Roma’s invitation to participate at the Capitol’s pride ceremonies, she gets a standing ovation and loudest applause on the Assembly floor. pic.twitter.com/HUTyAwB117
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) June 5, 2023
Wiener, who nominated Williams, accused his Republican colleagues of "caricaturing" the drag queen.
Kicking off our Capitol Pride celebration with the amazing Sister Roma & other Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) June 5, 2023
We’re honoring Sister Roma & other badass LGBTQ community leaders from around California. pic.twitter.com/jfino2hzIb
During the 2021 - 2022 legislative session, the state senator authored a Senate bill that made California a sanctuary state for child bodily mutilation. Wiener, who believes the term "groomer" is "categorically an anti-LGBTQ hate word" akin to "f*gg*t" and has suggested that "Drag Queen 101" be taught to school-aged kids in response to a Texas proposal seeking to ban drag shows in the presence of children, was also behind a law that allows judges to decide not to require child predators who statutorily raped minors 10 years their junior—between the ages of 14 and 17—to register as sex offenders. At the time, the openly gay Democrat argued that the move is a step toward "ending discrimination against LGBTQ young people on CA's sex offender registry."
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