By Sister Dana Van Iquity–
Sister Dana sez, “Remember to celebrate TRANSGENDER VISIBILITY DAY on March 31 and every day!”
“International Transgender Day of Visibility” is an annual event occurring every March 31 since 2009—dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. Evident in 2024 was intensifying backlash towards trans people—be it through legislative measures (which, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, includes 479 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced across state legislatures this year alone)—to direct physical violence, declared an epidemic by the American Medical Association since 2019, (which disproportionately affects Black trans women with a majority being young people of color).
While backlash is a reality that trans people and allies are experiencing, new GLAAD polling data indicates that the vast majority of voting groups opposes candidates who campaign against transgender people’s access to healthcare and youth sports participation; and acceptance continues to rise with personal familiarity and exposure to trans stories in media.
On Sunday, March 30, TRANS MARCH SAN FRANCISCO will present the annual celebration of TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY (TDOV) here in San Francisco. This is a day to celebrate and recognize the achievements and experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. This year they will be presenting their award ceremony and program at The Green Room, 401 Van Ness Avenue from 6–9 pm. The show will begin at 7 pm, and afterwards there will be a dance DJ’d by @kalonji.moschino. This event will be free for community members, and they will provide food. Join them in celebrating trans joy! https://linktr.ee/transmarch
The latest preliminary injunction hearing in D.C. for Talbott v. Trump is one of two cases fighting the Trump administration’s purge of transgender people from the military. This hearing was the first since the policy released on February 26. Many new plaintiffs have joined the suit, including a transgender Army Special Forces medic who was suddenly pulled from a combat deployment. Good news: U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in Talbott v. Trump on March 18, blocking enforcement of the ban while the case goes forward. BTW The Army is now grappling with a staggering attrition rate among newly enlisted troops, even as recent recruiting figures suggest the service is clawing its way out of an enlistment crisis. Sister Dana sez, “Hey! Perhaps it’s a good time to STOP purging transgender people from The Army!”
COSTCO has been taking a brave stand against the Trump Administration by continually refusing to abandon its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. Meanwhile 19 Republican Attorneys General are pressuring Costco to cave to the Trump Administration’s racist, transphobic, homophobic, and discriminatory agenda!
President Donald Duck turned Irish leader Micheál Martin’s March 12 visit to the White House ahead of ST. PATRICK’S DAY into yet another opportunity to insult a longtime American ally. “You took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies,” T-rump said. Ireland “has got the entire U.S. pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.” Martin tried to diplomatically and patiently explain that trade between the two countries is a two-way street. Martin noted that more than 700 Irish companies have outposts in the U.S., employing thousands of people, contributing to the domestic economy. Sister Dana sez, “I bet St. Patrick was rolling over in his grave!”
For the month of March and possibly into April, STRUT at 470 Castro Street is proudly exhibiting the art of Jesse Egner! We greatly enjoyed his exhibition, “UNAFFIXED,” at his opening reception on March 7, and then were treated to an Artist Talk on March 14—where we got quite personal and aimed questions at Jesse. He is a queer artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Often taking the form of playful and absurd portraiture of himself and other individuals, his work explores themes such as queerness, body image, collaboration, humor, and play. His photography has been exhibited and published globally. When he first encountered the phrase, “No Femmes. No Fats,” on gay dating apps as a teen, it marked him and his body as unwelcome. “As a queer individual in the gay dating scene with a fat body and invisible disability, this rejection ignited an internal conflict between my body and my queerness,” he said. “My work emerged from this struggle, initially manifesting as self-portraiture—which felt almost self-destructive due to years of body shaming. However, I discovered a way to understand my queerness photographically through absurdity, humor, and play. The work moved beyond self-portraiture, which felt too personal, and shifted to include other queer individuals with me occasionally stepping into the frame. Collaboration then became crucial to my work.” His photographs live in a realm of ambiguity, between reality and fantasy. He pointed out that these are not rigid definitions but fluid reflections of the transitional space of queerness. I especially enjoy three of his particularly fun self-portraits: Knit Face has his entire head wrapped in red yarn as a seated man knits it; another, aptly labeled Mermaid Tail, has his legs in a “fish tail” firmly wrapped around in rope upon rope; a third has his face almost completely covered by an affixed iPhone stuck on a dating app. A fourth one I can’t actually write about, but made me giggle seeing a part of his body crocheted. You can check some of Jesse’s fabulous photos at https://www.jesseegner.com
On March 16, 1985, more than 60 people gathered at the SF Public Library to found the GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY. This year, four decades later, they just celebrated their 40th Anniversary. What started as a grassroots effort has grown into an internationally recognized institution. The GLBT Historical Society now safeguards over 1,000 collections in their archives. In a typical year, an average of 20,000 people visit the country’s first museum of LGBTQ history and culture.
On March 18, we were delighted to attend the Fabulosa Books Author Reading Session of HELLO STRANGER: MUSINGS ON MODERN INTIMACIES by Manuel Betancourt. “Hello Stranger” is a fascinating book about chance encounters—at a bar, through social media, in a bathhouse—and what a stranger can reveal about who we are and who we could still yet be. A stranger can provide endless possibilities. As Betancourt looks back on his past relationships, he turns to characters and narratives that helped him question notions of what monogamy and couple-dom (and relationships and marriage) can and should look like. From films, poetry, and the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, the author uses pop culture to make sense of the alluring prospect of forging intimacies with strangers—even, or especially, the strangers within ourselves. In both a personal excavation and a broad cultural critique, he examines everything from online sexting and real-life cruising to divorces and throuples. He examines the intimacies we crave, value, and oftentimes destroy. Go buy this marvelous book at Fabulosa Books, 489 Castro Street, SinFrancisco!
Nazi-loving Trump recently reposted an article to his Truth Social account with the image of a pink triangle, a symbol used during the Holocaust to identify gay men in Nazi concentration camps. The triangle was overlaid with a red circle and a line through it, suggesting “gays not allowed” or even more drastically “death to the gays, like the good ol’ Nazi days.” Sister Dana sez, “Could this bigot BE any more homophobic and dangerous to the LGBTQ community? It’s time to de-throne the ‘king’ of autocracy!’”
AFROSOLO THEATRE COMPANY will present Arts Festival 31, LET FREEDOM RING! PART 2 on March 28 and 29 at 7 pm and March 30 at 3 pm, located at Potrero Stage, 1695 18th Street, SF. AfroSolo Theatre Company’s mission is to nurture, promote, and present African American and African Diasporan art and culture through solo performances and the visual and literary arts. Since 1994, the annual festival has been a forum for African Americans and the larger African Diaspora as a way to give voice to the unique experience of being Black. Through art, they bring people of all ethnicities together to explore and share the human spirit that binds us all. Tickets and info at https://afrosolo.org/
Recently, nine state legislatures launched efforts to overturn marriage equality. While it’s a long shot due to the Obergefell v Hodges ruling and Respect for Marriage Act, headlines about these attempts have sparked panic in the LGBTQ community and generated fears about what else is to come. North Dakota’s state House passed a resolution to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. This would have been the first state to move this effort forward. Fortunately, the North Dakota Senate swiftly rejected the resolution. Sister Dana sez, “What is it about that simple word, ‘equality,’ that frightens Repugnican politicos so badly?!”
Elon “mouthy” Musk, who was raised during South African apartheid, used to steer clear of debate about race. Now, he frequently advocates for White people. Sister Dana sez, “Yes, because we white folx are just so very discriminated against. Oh, boo hoo.”
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has been elevating and embracing right-wing media stars such as Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon by featuring them as guests on his new podcast. Sister Dana sez, “This is not just alarming, it’s irresponsible and the complete opposite of what we need from our progressive and Democratic elected officials right now!”
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY will present this year’s edition of the NIGHT OF IDEAS on April 5, 7–11 pm, 100 Larkin Street. Leading thinkers, scholars, writers, activists, and artists will engage with the theme “(Un)Common Ground.” Everyone will explore the vital role of civil society in mediating our differences and charting a shared destiny. The night’s conclusion at 1 am invites attendees to boogie down at SF Discothèque in the Library’s atrium. And we Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will put camp and whimsy into arts & crafts with our “Sister Sock Puppet Workshop” and a Bohemian Rhapsody lip-sync finale parade in the Library’s Atrium. Also, on display will be huge oil paintings of rainbow Sister Dana and other naughty nuns by fabulous artist Deidre Defranceaux. https://sfpl.org//04/05/night-ideas
This ain’t no “April Fools!” joke. Join in the fight to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach on April 5 for PEOPLE’S VOTE DAY: 50 protests, 50 states, one movement in partnership with WOMEN’S MARCH and HANDS OFF. https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
THE PEOPLE’S MARCH/FIGHT FASCISM FOR DEMOCRACY will be a march and rally on April 12, noon to 3 pm in SF supporting everyone under attack by the current government administration. Nobody should live in fear because of their color, faith, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, or political beliefs. More on this in my April 10 column.
Several corporate sponsors have pulled out of SAN FRANCISCO’S 2025 PRIDE CELEBRATION over what the parade’s Executive Director Suzanne Ford suspects is due to the country’s changing political climate under the Trump administration. San Francisco Pride’s street fair is scheduled for June 28–29, with the famed Pride Parade scheduled for 10 am on the second day. Founded in 1970 as the Gay Freedom Day Parade, the event has grown to become one of the largest and most renowned LGBTQ celebrations in the world, attracting up to one million visitors each year.
Hungarian lawmakers have just passed a law banning Pride events and allowing authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attendees, continuing a crackdown by dictator Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing populist party on the country’s LBGTQ community.
Dictator Trump rolled back on March 14—the day before the possible shut-down of the Federal Government—over a dozen former executive orders and directives signed by former President Biden focused on gender, labor policies, and industry regulations. One of these revoked Biden’s action to protect transgender human rights.
House Speaker MAGA-Mike Johnson, before elected as 56th speaker, had said that programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid pose an “existential threat” to the American way of life and the “whole form of government.” So, just hours before the March 14 shutdown deadline, House Republicans passed a Continuing Resolution bill to increase defense spending by 6 billion dollars and to SLASH “domestic non-defense” spending (such as Medicaid) by 13 BILLION DOLLARS, all to give tax cuts to the ultrawealthy. Every House Democrat, but one, opposed. All, but ten, Senate Democrats opposed. The CR (“Crappy Resolution”) bill thereby passed. Trump then quickly signed it— the very next day on March 15—giving the Trump administration significantly more leeway to spend federal dollars without Congressional approval. On March 16, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries addressed the Republicans regarding Medicaid, exhorting, “House Republicans are lying! Their own budget resolution set in motion up to 880 Billion Dollars in cuts to Medicaid! That would be the largest Medicaid cut in American history.” Sister Dana sez, “This is utterly UNACCEPTABLE! Millions of Americans rely on Medicaid for lifesaving healthcare, and for so many other vital societal NON-DEFENSE needs. How dare the RepubliCan’ts do this to us!”
The Democrat lawmakers are finally growing a spine. They are taking it to the streets with “Fight Oligarchy!” rallies attended by thousands upon thousands of agitated citizens from both red and blue states. Sister Dana sez, “We have to STOP the rich from getting richer while the poor are getting poorer!”
Sister Dana Sez, Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun
Published on March 27, 2025
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