The Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence celebrated in 2009 their thirty years. The sisters, you maybe already met them if you fight against AIDS, if you are a homosexual and/or party a lot : it is a gay association which fight against the shame and the guilt, that promulgates the enjoyment everywhere where its members pass, and which fights against AIDS. If their mission is associated with the fight against all the diseases today which make sex the less beautiful and less free, it is not secondary to remind us that their first vocation is to fight against this guilt which makes spirit and heart less wide. But why speaking about "sisters"? They have the militancy and the faith of the nuns, they also have the folklore of it with prayers, clothes (in particular the cornet) so that we identify them. They follow, as the sisters of the church, an initiatory road which begins with the noviciate, pronounce vows and leave for mission to help their fellow man and support where that hurts (yes, the sisters are sometimes angry). In brief, it is a completely respectable order, and their dress does not aim at shocking, but at reminding that they made a spiritual road and that they look around them a lot. It is also a question of being quickly identified : the dress of the sisters invites naturally the gay people to go to confess to them a sexuality which they sometimes live as a "fault". Some are religious, the others not. The order is laic but does not share the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church on the condom. To understand better their action, I found my two friends sisters before one of their tours of the gay clubs in Paris. We go to the convent of the Paname (the other name for the city), located this evening at the parents of Sister Rose. Before the sisters thread their ceremonial dresses, I enjoy the warm welcome of the parents Rose. Family Sunday meal, the occasion to speak about militancy and about film projects of the convent. When they arrive in a disco, they verify at first the availability of condoms. When it is made, they make the tour of the place to show their presence, and collect the "confessions" of the guys: confidences on their difficulties, or sometimes they are going to express the illness of an unavowable sexuality, or release from the "sin" of sex without condom. Sister Mystrah explains : "generally I sit at the bar with my knitting and they know or feel that they can come to speak to me. We hear many confessions, people who cannot speak to their families, about guys of suburb who cannot absolutely assume to be gay in front of their friends. " Before we leave, we submit ourselves to a small ritual : our small assembly meets in circle, we pronounce some words for the sick sisters, and many feelings pass between our hands. That looks stupid, told like that, but all that have the sisters is there in this moment : a lot of enjoyment, love, listening and enthusiasm. Because that's what they offer, a speech of love and solidarity with all. We accompany them to the first place of the tour. Along the way, we cross a group of young people which make us dread some invectives. " Oh oh, that smells not good ", says Sister Mystrah. It is true whom, on their move, walking or in the subway, the sisters are never shielded from a verbal or physical aggression. It already arrived. Finally, it is about a group of young suburban gays very amused crossing the sisters. They always have a small word for people whom they meet, good-natured interventions often punctuated with one " and do not forget the condom ! ". Before the sisters enter the first disco, Sister Mystrah says to me: " we find here quite a lot of gays which do not live necessarily very well their homosexuality, which are going to come to quench a drive, and to leave without feeling more at ease with what they have that when they arrived." Another sister finds that the atmosphere is not always very nice but admits that sometimes he comes as a boy for the pleasure of quick relations. I let the them begin their tour, which will be once again useful. Sister Rose tells: « In the last disco we visited, we had an amazing number of confessions of young people HIV+. It was rather strong." If the sisters did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them.