On Friday, Catholics celebrate the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a holiday intended for believers to reflect on God’s love for mankind.

Sadly, for far too many Catholics in Los Angeles and beyond, love has never been a thought.

Friday is also the day the Los Angeles Dodgers host Pride Night and present the Community Hero Award to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The choice to honor this group (whose members are mostly men and wear the eccentric attire of nuns while doing philanthropic work) has made conservative Catholics like this since Nancy Pelosi took communion. infuriated even more.

The Dodgers initially withdrew the invitation under pressure from loudspeakers who claimed the Sisters desecrated sacred ceremonies and items and mocked Catholicism for their mere existence. The team later invited the sisters back in and apologized, after protests from Democratic politicians and LGBTQ+ groups.

Since then, the right wing of the Catholic Church has argued that the Dodgers’ stance is what every good Christian soldier must fight for.

The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose H. Gomez, called on his congregation to make reparations ahead of Pride Night. No, he’s not asking the government to hand out funds against historical injustice. Reparation in Catholicism means asking God for forgiveness for sins committed against God. In this case, “blasphemy against the Lord we see in our culture today” by groups like Sister. Gomez co-wrote the news release.

The nonprofit Catholic Vote has launched a $1 million campaign to urge a boycott of the Dodgers. The Catholic Federation claims to have contacted 236 Latino leaders in Southern California and asked them to tell their fellow Latinos not to attend Pride Night. A coalition of Catholic organizations will hold a protest with speakers, music and prayers in the Dodger Stadium parking lot before the game.

If they paid the same attention to poverty, there would be no homelessness in Los Angeles.

A lot of people are mad at me. Because I put them in a defensible position of gay bashers. For example, CatholicVote is running a campaign to encourage people to check public libraries for LGBTQ+ friendly books so their children can’t read them.Church extremists livestreaming protests think gays are good “That’s all wrong.” Meanwhile, Catholic League president Bill Donoghue said Pride Month was just an “occasion” for the LGBTQ+ community. “narcissistic tendencies”

I’ve also heard from good Catholics who genuinely love and embrace the LGBTQ+ community, but don’t like it in the least that it seems to disrespect the Sisters.

There are also precarious homosexual Catholics. The church teaches that homosexuality is a sin and same-sex marriage is still prohibited. However, Pope Francis preached love and tolerance for LGBTQ+ people, drawing condemnation from many who oppose Pride Night and the Sisters.

Meanwhile, Gomez criticized a 2020 Supreme Court ruling granting workplace discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, calling it “an injustice that affects many areas of life.”But still the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Catholic ministry with lesbian and gay peopleruns support groups and provides speakers to schools and parishes to “educate”[e] and have a dialogue[e] About inclusiveness and acceptability. “

I wanted to hear the views of gay Catholics who sided with Gomez and honest good-natured homophobes on the issue of drugs, which is such an important part of queer culture. My reflexive response, as many progressives do, was to call them “traitors” or “deceived.”

But Jesus is not. So I asked my fellow LGBTQ+ people how they justify loving a church that doesn’t always love them, while condemning an organization dedicated to fighting intolerance towards LGBTQ+ people. I decided to ask the Catholics what they had to say.

In a recent letter to The Times, Raul de Cardenas said he has celebrated Pride Month as “an opportunity to show the world that we are good people and part of the city we call home.” At the same time, he said, “I am enjoying a fresh and positive life.” Perspective’ drag show was provided.

“No more,” wrote a woman in Los Angeles. “now [drag] It has become a political tool of anger. “

He particularly resented the Sisters’ performance, which included pole dancing on the cross, as well as what he called a “disgusting” sexy yes contest.

“Now everything is twisted,” he wrote. “People who once sought understanding and tolerance have become cultural and political dictators of those who oppose their extreme views.”

I followed De Cardenas by asking how being a staunch Catholic reconciles with belonging to a church that even Pope Francis tolerates and calls homosexuality a sin. “The Bible is full of gibberish,” he said in an email. “That man’s words are full of mistakes.”

De Cardenas also argued that what the Sisters were doing was not a traditional drug, characterizing it as “different and never hurtful.” I would argue that faith is above all else. ”

Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence pose for photos during the Gay Pride march in Paris in 2021.

(Gregory Herpe/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)

Julian Del Real Carreros is a board member of the Lynnwood Unified School District and asked me for a job on Twitter about my question. columnnath About the sisterhood dispute.

When I called, he described his school district’s first Pride Summit. It was held after a student asked the school board for help in fighting bullying. Del Real-Carreros said the request “revived a memory, a horrible memory” of having suffered ostracism in both Lynnwood’s school and the Mexican immigrant community alike.

One day, during a Quinceañera mass at Our Lady of Victories in Compton, the priest saw teenage del Real-Carreros and his cousin standing outside.

“This man was looking at us, so he wasn’t stupid. He said, ‘You don’t have to go out, this is God’s house.’ he loves you regardless. ’ It shocked me. Found shelter. “

The 34-year-old is so devout Catholic that when he and his ex-partner considered adopting or surrogate parenting, he looked into whether his child could be baptized as a Catholic (the church is Catholic). (Although he did not recognize it as such, he was baptized.) couple).

“There are people in the church who remember that we are all children of God, and that God’s main message is love,” Del Real Carreros said. said.

He was scheduled to attend the Dodgers’ Pride Night as usual. But when Del Real-Carreros learned that the sisters he first met at a San Francisco Pride event ten years ago would be honored, he decided against it.

“Should we continue to cheer for the award?” [the Sisters] That is a disgusting mockery of my faith,” he said, “or should they close their eyes and let God decide for them?”

He agreed when I pointed out that drag is intentionally eccentric.

“But I will not compare [the Sisters] Because it’s fun and interesting to drag,” he said. “It’s not them. They put allusions into everything.”

He understands they do charity work, but is particularly upset about their “sexualizing nuns” because one of his aunts is a nun. .

“Their devotion is to God. They practice abstinence. Why should the sisters ridicule it?”

The conservatives’ battle against pride has become so heated that Del Real Carreros has found itself defending drag shows against fellow Republicans. He hopes the Dodger Stadium protests don’t turn into a rally against people like him.

“I hope these people, if they are wise, will do something about this matter.” [Sisters], not Pride Night,” he concluded. “If you protest [the latter]Then you will be doing a completely different story. “