By Mathy (Mathieu) Turcotte – Master of Teaching at the Institute and High School of Health La Source, HES-SO, Lausanne.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The first Sisters emerged in the Castro district, the center of San Francisco's LGBTIQ culture. By wearing nun's habits, they drew attention to social and political issues. Their approach is not just an artistic performance but an act of social protest against a society that stigmatizes LGBTIQ diversity. Through the parodic performance of certain religious rituals, they expose the flaws in the hegemonic norms of gender and sexuality – the cornerstones of our contemporary society and, by extension, the healthcare system. These exposures make visible the recognition and celebration of non-heterosexual or cisgender life paths.

At the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence played a crucial role in supporting affected individuals. One of their significant actions was organizing revitalizing retreats for people affected by HIV, homophobic discrimination, and other forms of oppression. These retreats allow individuals—homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender people, drug users, and heterosexuals—to share their daily lives and energy with the Sisters. For people living with HIV, the Sisters' model offers valuable lessons. Their resilience in the face of adversity, their ability to transform pain into constructive action, and their commitment to solidarity make them inspiring role models. By promoting a positive outlook on living with HIV, they remove taboos and pathological representations associated with the diagnosis and celebrate the richness of human experience and life in all its forms.

In 1982, they launched "Play Fair!", a sexual education guide created by and for affected individuals, promoting awareness, education, consent, and satirical humor. In an era marked by fear and misinformation about HIV, this booklet marked a turning point in public health work.

The Sisters' movement spread rapidly worldwide, with autonomous houses adapted to local conditions (over 80 monasteries worldwide). This decentralized structure fosters autonomy and allows each house to meet the specific needs of its community. In 2005, the Order of Perpetual Indulgence also appeared in Switzerland, initially in Zurich, where it was active for eight years. The Crane Monastery also left a lasting impression in the Romandie region before becoming inactive. Today, French-speaking monasteries can still be found in Lyon and Paris.

Although the movement has lost some popularity, the Sisters show how a flexible and inclusive structure can facilitate the emergence of collective and therapeutic agency. This model is also found in the Radical Fairies, a group that also fosters artistic and spiritual initiatives and demonstrates that social change can be achieved through collaboration and self-determination.

The Power of Drag

The art of drag has a powerful effect that goes beyond community spirit and societal conflicts. As a nurse and drag artist, I have always been fascinated by its therapeutic power. It has made me question why I feel more like "healing" on stage as a drag queen than at the bedside of my patient as a nurse.

For this reason, I initiated a participatory doctoral project with seven drag artists from the canton of Vaud, where the art of drag is studied and simultaneously performed to highlight its therapeutic nature. This project, emerging from nursing science, aims to establish new connections between art and science to create a participatory performance that conveys a sense of healing – a radical care that targets the underlying causes of what we want to change in our current society, as the Sisters have successfully done and continue to do.

It is a form of "critical care" that questions and even resists the pathologizing and moralizing public health practices that continue to exert a stigmatizing influence on LGBTIQ communities.

Through this doctoral project, rooted in our queer artistic history, we aim to contribute to the recognition of the agency of local LGBTIQ paths and show that care can be a powerful tool for overcoming or even redefining oppressive structures. This action aims to be more dissident than marginal, as it does not merely seek tolerance or acceptance but the recognition of the care practices and knowledge of the LGBTIQ community to make general healthcare more inclusive.

The Legacy of the Sisters

In the end, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence stand for a type of healing that combines art, care, solidarity, and the questioning of norms. As the foundations of my doctoral project demonstrate, their legacy continues to inspire new generations to engage, challenge norms, and fight for a fairer and more inclusive healthcare system. Although some monasteries are currently inactive, the example set by the Sisters remains an immeasurable source of inspiration.

“May Saint Pouffe, patroness of the monasteries in France, Saint Sapho, patroness of girls who love girls, Saint Tapiola, patroness of boys who love boys, Saint Cyclette, patroness of bisexuals, (…) Saint Rita, patroness of hopeless cases – and thus of heteros – watch over you with love, joy, and peace.”