A historic Anglican Church in the heart of London will for the first time put on a drag queen performance featuring former RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestants to “celebrate artistry and ingenuity in every walk of life”.
The 17th-century St James’s Church, Piccadilly in London, which claims to have demonstrated a “pioneering welcome of LGBTQAI+ communities and other marginalised people and groups”, will for the first time in its 340-year history put on a “drag night” dubbed PREACH! within the church.
The Church of England parish church said that it would be hosting at least two performances of PREACH! — with one on Saturday, March 4th, and the second on June 3rd.
The show on Saturday was set to feature drag performers River Medway and Veronica Green, both of whom have appeared as contestants on the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK television programme.
“St James’s will welcome drag icons from around the world to perform beneath its ornate gold ceiling, showcasing some of the biggest names in the art of drag, as well as fresh talent,” the church said.
Despite claiming that it is “committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults” St James’s did not say the drag show age-restricted, indicating that children would be allowed into the show.
In the latest “thought of the week” published on the church’s website, St James’s Digital Communications Officer, Derrie Shurville, said that she first “got the drag bug” when her girlfriend insisted that she watch RuPaul’s Drag Race, which she “binged” four seasons of ” — becoming “truly hooked” on the idea.
Defending the practice from a “feminist perspective”, Shurville wrote: “Drag is about a minority (usually gay men, but also women) putting on make-up to express and explore their identity or to express their art in this, that can be read as ‘controversial’, way.”
She insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that drag queens “are not copying women” but “revealing an aspect of themselves or they are sharing their art with other people.”
“They are also sometimes pointing out the ridiculousness of gender and the rigid walls that surround it,” she added.
“Drag is, among other things, about refusing to accept those stereotypes on clothes and the way men and women are apparently supposed to look, which I absolutely concur with. It’s a type of activism that I fully support as a feminist.”
What exactly drag has to do with Christianity or indeed why the church would host such an event was not explained by the communications officer in her post.
The performance is just the latest instance of the leftward lurch of the Church of England, the established church of its homeland.
Under the de facto leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the CoE has frequently inserted itself in political issues of the day, often advocating a leftist agenda, particularly on issues such as illegal immigration and climate change.
Welby has also weighed into modern woke gender theory, previously declaring that God is “gender neutral” despite the Bible very clearly describing God in general and Jesus Christ in particular in unequivocally masculine terms.
To back up Welby’s assertion, however, the Church announced last month that it would be embarking upon a project “to develop more inclusive language” surrounding gendered language surrounding God, with phrases like “Our Father” potentially being on the chopping block to conform with modern politically correct sensibilities.
Just days later, the Church voted in favour of offering “God’s blessings” to same-sex marriages.
In a statement, Archbishop Welby said that he hopes the decision would mark “a new beginning for the Church as we seek a way forward, listening to each other and most of all to God. Above all we continue to pray, as Jesus himself prayed, for the unity of his church and that we would love one another.”
Ironically, despite Welby and the church’s leadership in general committing itself to a radical leftist agenda, some, including the lay vice chairman of St James’s Parochial Church Council (PCC), Dr Wilson Wong, have argued that he has not gone far enough.
Following the announcement of same-sex marriage blessings, Wong wrote on St James’s website that “orthodox theology requires the full citizenship of LGBTQI members, not the limp-wristed statement from Archbishop Welby this week that LGBTQI members are ‘welcome and a valued part of the body of Christ.'”
Wong went on to mock the idea that gay people “should be grateful that soon they will be able to receive a blessing of their same-sex relationships (from non-homophobic clergy only) and that LGBTQI members should accept this crumb for the ‘common good’.”
Wong argued that the Church of England should not only bless same-sex marriages, but host and perform them as well, and that Parliament should threaten to de-establish the Church in order to make it fall in line.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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