Sisters-of-Perpetual-Indulgence-Mari-Jean-Easter-brunch-Photo-by-Dave-Decker-19 Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Miss Stunt Icon flaunts her Transformers-inspired drag persona across the most outrageous queer fundraisers in Tampa Bay. Now, she sets out on her biggest endeavor yet: holy sisterhood.
For Icon’s debut, she shook ass at a transmasculine lube wrestling tournament supporting Swamp Bois x Doll Dynasty’s gender affirming care fund. When The Sapphic Sun spoke with Icon, she was still counting the money her performance helped raise for T4TISLA — a new group providing hard-to-access gender affirming care items for Cubans.
Her next event is the Preggo Pageant, a pseudo-ball where attendees can walk dressed as their favorite pregnant icon. Funds raised will benefit Tampa Bay Abortion Fund.
Icon is organizing the event to ascend to the level of a professed sister with the gayest religious order since the Catholic Church: the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
The Sisters are a queer and trans order of nuns in drag. They started in San Francisco in 1979 with the mission: “to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.”
Icon works with the group as Novice Sister Haram Bae, a Niqabi nun who distributes safe sex and safe drug use supplies. The religious mashup helps her break the ice.
“Nobody goes to a bar and really wants to talk about gonorrhea,” Icon told The Sapphic Sun. “But when someone’s like, ‘okay, so what’s with the nun outfit and the niqab?’ Then I can explain what I’m doing. And be like, ‘By the way, did you know that gonorrhea numbers are on the rise in Florida? Have you gotten tested?’”
Though the religious iconography is somewhat satirical, initiation into the order is modeled after Catholic nunhood and is considered a serious commitment. As a novice sister, Icon must complete a novice project to become a fully professed member of the order. That’s why she’s hosting the Preggo Pageant.
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“I wanted to do something that had the fun vibe of a ball, but didn’t have all the high-pressure glamour,” Icon said. “We are inviting people to come dressed in costume as a pregnant person. Whether that’s an existing pregnant icon like the Virgin Mary, Juno, or Lucy from I Love Lucy during her pregnancy era; Or they just want to come like, you know, ‘I’m the trailer park bimbo,’ and they’re wearing a bikini, shorts and a big fake belly.”
A gay, pregnancy-themed pageant to fundraise for abortions might sound ridiculous and provocative. That’s well within the norm for the Sisters.
The group formed in response to homophobic evangelists who would travel to San Francisco’s Castro District to preach at the known homo hotspot. A small group of gay men in nuns’ outfits responded with mocking prayers of their own, occasionally finding time to flirt with the homophobic pastors.
When Pope John Paul II visited San Francisco, the Sisters held a mock exorcism on a model of the pope, which they later burned.
The Sisters say they modeled their order after devotion to neighbors to honor the genuine dedication to community service they’d observed from Roman Catholic nuns. You may have seen the Sisters at Pride parades blocking out homophobes, or at candlelight vigils comforting mourners.
Help Icon raise money for more abortions by dressing pregnant and showing up. The Preggo Pageant will be held on Sept. 25 at Delicious Wine Bar in St. Pete. “The Tampa Bay Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are hosting a fabulous free party, and we’re expecting YOU!” the invite reads. There will be live DJs and dancing and, of course, the preggo walk — which should, perhaps, be called a waddle.
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This article appears in Sept. 17 – 23, 2026.
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