A preacher dressed in drag led a sermon for children on Sunday in Chicago.
Aaron Musser, the preacher at St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square, said that instead of telling people how they should be joyful, he was showing them what makes him joyful, arguing his attire served as a dress rehearsal for the ultimate joy experienced upon the return of Jesus Christ.
"It's been so hard to know what that joy will be because it’s been so long since some of us have been joyful. It's been a difficult and tiring couple of years," Musser said. "And I decided instead of telling you, 'This is how I want you to be joyful,' as we prepare for this dress rehearsal, I figured I would instead put on a dress as so many who have inspired me have done. I decided to follow their example, showing that liberation from oppressive laws clears a path for joy."
Children have been increasingly exposed to drag queens in recent years, with several attending drag queen story hours at public libraries, museums, and recreation centers since 2015.
“Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is just what it sounds like — drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores,” the Drag Queen Story Hour website reads. “DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real.”
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Isaac Simmons, known by his drag name of Ms. Penny Cost, became the first drag queen certified as a candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church earlier this year. The ordainment process takes five years to complete.