A local church is hosting a holiday-themed drag show to help raise money for the Montrose Center and other outreach programs benefiting LGBTQIA+ and unhoused individuals.
Drag Me to Church will be hosted by Trinity Episcopal Church, an open and affirming congregation in Midtown. The event will take place from 6–9 p.m. on Dec. 5 at Kiki, a nightclub in Montrose.
The church got the idea to host a drag show after the state of Texas passed several laws affecting LGBTQIA+ people, specifically a since-challenged law targeting drag performances.
Trinity has always been accepting of queer parishioners, Reverend Hannah Atkins Romero said, but the church wanted to do something more visibly supportive in the wake of such legislation.
"(The church) has tried more and more over the years to be inclusive and affirming," she said.
With that, a drag show seemed like a natural fit for the benefit thanks to drag's tendency to poke fun at the establishment, including politicians and churches, Romero said. (Organizers are still finalizing the list of performers for the event, but they will all be queens local to Houston, Romero said.)
"We're a church with a great sense of humor," she said. "We think God is strong and big and also fun. We want to be reverent and joyous at the same time because joy is one of the deepest proofs of the existence of God."
Romero gets emotional as she talks about some of the recent legislation and policies such as Katy ISD's new policy of outing trans and nonbinary students to their parents, which, in her view, target some of the most marginalized Texans.
"God is on the side of those on the margins of society," she said. "Jesus lived on the margins."
In many ways, Trinity's mission and the Montrose Center's work make them good partners. The Center, which was founded by counselors and psychiatrists in 1978, is an important resource for Houston's queer population, offering everything from STI testing to low-cost mental health services to support for queer seniors to simply serving as a gathering space and cultural hub.
Tickets for the event are $150, which Romero says she knows is expensive. But as a congregation that regularly works with unhoused people, she has seen the need for outreach programs increase in the post-pandemic era. Through its Lord of the Streets and Sandwich Makers programs, which will also benefit from the fundraiser, Trinity hands out about 500 free meals a week.
"There's a need here always for nonprofits and churches to raise funds," she said. "But the demand for free meals has increased."
If this year's event goes well, Trinity Episcopal hopes to make Drag Me To Church an annual holiday tradition. Romero also hopes that fundraisers like Drag Me to Church help bring some form of healing to people who may have been harmed by the church in the past.
"We just want to have fun and make a statement," she said. "We're making a statement that needs to be made in Texas about people's right to be themselves."
Drag Me to Church will be hosted by Trinity Episcopal Church, an open and affirming congregation in Midtown. The event will take place from 6–9 p.m. on Dec. 5 at Kiki, a nightclub in Montrose.
The church got the idea to host a drag show after the state of Texas passed several laws affecting LGBTQIA+ people, specifically a since-challenged law targeting drag performances.
Trinity has always been accepting of queer parishioners, Reverend Hannah Atkins Romero said, but the church wanted to do something more visibly supportive in the wake of such legislation.
"(The church) has tried more and more over the years to be inclusive and affirming," she said.
With that, a drag show seemed like a natural fit for the benefit thanks to drag's tendency to poke fun at the establishment, including politicians and churches, Romero said. (Organizers are still finalizing the list of performers for the event, but they will all be queens local to Houston, Romero said.)
"We're a church with a great sense of humor," she said. "We think God is strong and big and also fun. We want to be reverent and joyous at the same time because joy is one of the deepest proofs of the existence of God."
Romero gets emotional as she talks about some of the recent legislation and policies such as Katy ISD's new policy of outing trans and nonbinary students to their parents, which, in her view, target some of the most marginalized Texans.
"God is on the side of those on the margins of society," she said. "Jesus lived on the margins."
In many ways, Trinity's mission and the Montrose Center's work make them good partners. The Center, which was founded by counselors and psychiatrists in 1978, is an important resource for Houston's queer population, offering everything from STI testing to low-cost mental health services to support for queer seniors to simply serving as a gathering space and cultural hub.
Tickets for the event are $150, which Romero says she knows is expensive. But as a congregation that regularly works with unhoused people, she has seen the need for outreach programs increase in the post-pandemic era. Through its Lord of the Streets and Sandwich Makers programs, which will also benefit from the fundraiser, Trinity hands out about 500 free meals a week.
"There's a need here always for nonprofits and churches to raise funds," she said. "But the demand for free meals has increased."
If this year's event goes well, Trinity Episcopal hopes to make Drag Me To Church an annual holiday tradition. Romero also hopes that fundraisers like Drag Me to Church help bring some form of healing to people who may have been harmed by the church in the past.
"We just want to have fun and make a statement," she said. "We're making a statement that needs to be made in Texas about people's right to be themselves."
