As she puts the finishing touches to her habit, Sister Clarita, a Mexican immigrant living in Los Angeles, tells me that there are more than 3,000 LGBT+ nuns around the world. They’re part of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international network of activists who identify as secular nuns. From Sydney to Los Angeles to Huddersfield, these queer nuns swap crucifixes for Pride memorabilia as they get to work on their mission: to promote universal joy and remove any sense of shame felt within the LGBT+ community.
In the UK, official houses for the sisterhood exist in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff, with more on the way in Glasgow and Bristol. Their modern take on nunneries allows sisters to take part in their mission alongside their ordinary lives – performing, attending protests, handing out free condoms and sexual health leaflets whenever and wherever is convenient. “There’s something of the secular self in the nun and always something of the nun in our secular self,” explains Sister Polly Amarosa, who in 2021 founded the Trans Pennine Travelling Sisters – a group of queer nuns who carry out their work along the Trans Pennine Trail.
