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Sisters-of-Perpetual-Indulgence-Mari-Jean-Easter-brunch-Photo-by-Dave-Decker-19 Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nSisters-of-Perpetual-Indulgence-Mari-Jean-Easter-brunch-Photo-by-Dave-Decker-19 Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
Miss Stunt Icon <\/a>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.<\/p>\n For Icon\u2019s debut, she shook ass at a transmasculine lube wrestling tournament <\/a>supporting Swamp Bois x Doll Dynasty\u2019s gender affirming care fund. When The Sapphic Sun spoke with Icon, she was still counting the money her performance helped raise for T4TISLA \u2014 a new group providing hard-to-access gender affirming care items for Cubans.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Sisters are a queer and trans order of nuns in drag. They started in San Francisco in 1979 with the mission: \u201cto promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n Icon works with the group as Novice Sister Haram Bae<\/a>, a Niqabi nun who distributes safe sex and safe drug use supplies. The religious mashup helps her break the ice.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody goes to a bar and really wants to talk about gonorrhea,\u201d Icon told The Sapphic Sun. \u201cBut when someone\u2019s like, \u2018okay, so what\u2019s with the nun outfit and the niqab?\u2019 Then I can explain what I\u2019m doing. And be like, \u2018By the way, did you know that gonorrhea numbers are on the rise in Florida? Have you gotten tested?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s why she\u2019s hosting the Preggo Pageant.<\/p>\n The Sapphic Sun is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project<\/a> \u00a0TBJP, a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation<\/a>. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication interested in TBJP, please email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Support Sapphic Sun by subscribing<\/a> to its print edition.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something that had the fun vibe of a ball, but didn\u2019t have all the high-pressure glamour,\u201d Icon said. \u201cWe are inviting people to come dressed in costume as a pregnant person. Whether that\u2019s 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, \u2018I\u2019m the trailer park bimbo,\u2019 and they\u2019re wearing a bikini, shorts and a big fake belly.\u201d<\/p>\n A gay, pregnancy-themed pageant to fundraise for abortions might sound ridiculous and provocative. That\u2019s well within the norm for the Sisters.<\/p>\n The group formed in response to homophobic evangelists who would travel to San Francisco\u2019s Castro District to preach at the known homo hotspot. A small group of gay men in nuns\u2019 outfits responded with mocking prayers of their own, occasionally finding time to flirt with the homophobic pastors.<\/p>\n When Pope John Paul II visited San Francisco, the Sisters held a mock exorcism on a model of the pope, which they later burned.<\/p>\n The Sisters say they modeled their order after devotion to neighbors to honor the genuine dedication to community service they\u2019d observed from Roman Catholic nuns. You may have seen the Sisters at Pride parades blocking out homophobes, or at candlelight vigils comforting mourners.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cThe Tampa Bay Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are hosting a fabulous free party, and we\u2019re expecting YOU!\u201d the invite reads. There will be live DJs and dancing and, of course, the preggo walk \u2014 which should, perhaps, be called a waddle.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Sept. 17 \u2013 23, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t