San Francisco activist dies at 91 after spending final night at the club

Huntly Gordon, San Francisco’s unofficial pope, has died after falling in his apartment and hitting his head. Gordon, a businessman, activist and longtime member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, spent his last night out dancing at the club. He was 91 years old.

In the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the LGBTQ+ charity behind San Francisco’s annual Hunky Jesus competition, decades of activism and raucous performances, members of the order dress in drag as nuns, taking names like “Sister Flatulina Grande” and donning robes and white face paint. Among a flock of nuns, Gordon, who joined in 1987, was designated the lone pope.

It happened after one Sister pointed out Gordon’s striking resemblance to Pope John Paul II, recalls Sister Roma.

“We were all like, ‘Oh my God, he totally does look like him,'” Roma told SFGATE.

Pope Dementia the Last and successor Sister Morticia Mourningwood. (Courtesy of Sister Morticia Mourningwood)

From then on, Gordon was Pope Dementia the Last, or Popey, appearing in white robes and a papal hat. In one 2003 performance, Gordon joined the Sisters in spoofing the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, appearing in a cage “where he could just barely reach out to fondle our young acolyte,” according to the order’s website.

Sister Vish-Knew fondly recalled a 1980s Pride Parade in which Gordon, in pope costume, dragged a “50 foot penis covered in a plastic condom with 6 nuns inside” from his convertible. (The penis was constructed from hula hoops and flesh-colored fabric, with holes for Sisters’ arms and legs.)

As the order’s pope, Gordon joined in the Sisters’ protests for gay rights and recognition of the AIDS epidemic.

“He was a huge personality,” Roma said. “He was satirically pompous. He liked to make fun of people who had expensive taste and lived lavish lifestyles, although that is exactly who he was.”

Pope Dementia at the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's annual Hunky Jesus competition in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Huntly Gordon)

Pope Dementia at the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s annual Hunky Jesus competition in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Huntly Gordon)

Sister Morticia Mourningwood, aka Zach Brown, was one of Gordon’s closest friends and his successor as pope. Mourningwood remembered him as “the best backstage manager you could think of,” keeping events running smoothly behind the scenes without seeking recognition. In the late ’80s and ’90s, when the Sisters went through a financial strain, Gordon helped cover the operating expenses of some of the order’s events.

“He was a sister for the sisters, and he was also a pope for the people,” Mourningwood said.

Roma remembers Gordon as a highly respected member of the order. “When he spoke you could hear a pin drop,” she said. “It was like, ‘Here comes some wisdom, we have to consider what’s being said.'”

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Gordon, the son of a doctor, was born in Oklahoma in 1935. After a tour in the Air Force, he worked as a journalist in Billings, Montana, and Bellingham, Washington, eventually landing a job directing the housing authority in Tacoma, Washington. Upon moving to San Francisco in the ’80s, he was involved with Megatone Records, a disco record label that released music by Sylvester. He also co-founded a nonprofit, San Francisco Art & Film for Teens, which offers arts programming and filmmaking mentorship for local students. Later in life, he worked at a Books Inc. bookstore.

The two Huntly Gordons pose for a selfie together. (Courtesy of Huntly Gordon)

It was during his time at Books Inc. that the late Gordon met another of his closest friends, a younger man also named Huntly Gordon.

The 39-year-old Gordon recalls the bizarre coincidence of their meeting, 16 or 17 years ago. While smoking outside at the Lookout, a young man approached him and asked for his name. When he replied that he was Huntly Gordon, the young man asked if he was related to the elder Huntly Gordon, who had been a mentor to him in the Art & Film program.

“I thought this kid was nuts,” the younger Gordon recalled to SFGATE. “I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, nice to meet you. Have a good day.'”

The next day, curiosity got the best of him. He found the elder Gordon’s Facebook profile, saw that he worked at Books Inc. and paid a visit. The two hit it off immediately, and remained close friends for the remainder of the late Gordon’s years, traveling to Paris and Bali. Based on their shared name, the two guessed that they were probably distant cousins, but never took a genetic test to confirm.

The younger Gordon recalls a pre-party for How Weird Street Faire, for which the pope purchased a fifth of vodka from Costco. The octogenarian stood on the stairs of a friend’s apartment, with one man under each arm.

“He raised his hand in cheers and he went flying down those stairs like a sack of potatoes,” Gordon recalled.

In addition to his activism, Pope Dementia the Last, aka Huntly Gordon, had a long and varied career as a businessman, journalist and nonprofit founder. (Courtesy of Sister Roma)

“Oh my god, he’s dead, he’s dead,” the queens nearby cried out. In reality, he hadn’t broken a bone, although someone still called an ambulance.

Gordon was also a fixture of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ nightlife circles, even in his advanced age. He had a particular fondness for the dance party Electroluxx, where he was a regular on the guest list; Roma said the party was Gordon’s “favorite place on Earth.” Elliott Nathan, one of the Electroluxx organizers, told SFGATE that Gordon regularly stayed out until two or three in the morning. He sometimes showed up in full pope drag, offering other men spankings with his stick.

“Everyone got a kick out of that,” Nathan said. “He was so fun.”

Gordon spent his last night at an Electroluxx party. He and Nathan greeted each other, and made plans to get dinner soon. Accompanied by Mourningwood, he stayed out until 1 a.m. At 2:30 a.m., after he had arrived home from the Midway, Gordon fell and hit his head. He was taken to the hospital, but died shortly after. According to Mourningwood, he still had a fleck of glitter on his face when he died.

Prior to his death, Gordon seemed healthy, Roma said: “I thought he was going to live forever.”

Gordon is survived by his niece, Mary Katherine.

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