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CV NEWS FEED // St. Joseph’s University (SJU) in Philadelphia will host its annual on-campus “drag” show this Friday, according to the Jesuit-affiliated school’s website.
“Join us for SJU Pride’s annual Drag Show where student, local, and nationally recognized drag queens will perform! All are welcome,” states the event’s official description.
The event will take place on Friday, April 19, from 8 to 10:30pm at The Perch, which is located in the Campion Student Center.
The planned show is further described as a “Diversity and Inclusion” event with a target audience of “all students” and “employee[s].” Its listed sponsors are SJU Pride – the Catholic university’s student-run LGBTQ activist club – and SJU’s Center for Inclusivity and Diversity (CID).
The SJU Pride webpage adds that the annual “drag” show is “[a]rguably Pride’s most popular event.”
“[S]tudents are welcome to enjoy a night of food and performance, and even have the option to perform themselves!” the webpage elaborates.
The show is not the only annual event SJU Pride holds. “Throughout the spring, SJU Pride hosts a variety of large events aimed to celebrate SJU’s LGBTQIA+ community,” the club’s webpage also notes, before describing two others.
Quest is a retreat-style event typically held in March. Student retreat leaders aim to create a sense of community for our general members during an off-campus weekend retreat. Members can look forward to a variety of social activities as well as self care practices!
…
Lavender Graduation is an annual event held during the last week of spring classes in order to celebrate SJU’s LGBTQIA+ graduating seniors. During this ceremony, seniors are honored with graduation chords as well as certificates as they are sent off onto their journey into the real world.
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On its home webpage, SJU Pride explains that its goal “is to create an accepting space for all sexual orientations and gender identities to gather and express themselves.”
“We strive to provide the SJU community with entertaining as well as educational experiences surrounding topics of sexuality and gender,” the group goes on to describe.
Also on the same webpage, the club features a diagram with a dozen different “pride” flags, including the general rainbow flag, as well as the “transgender,” “intersexual,” “non-binary,” “pansexual,” “genderqueer,” and “aromantic” flags.
Furthermore, SJU Pride engages in so-called Safe Zone Training, which it states “raises awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community through the lens of an ally,” and “affirm[s] LGBTQIA+ people.”
According to social media posts, SJU Pride has been holding “drag” shows for the last several years.
In particular, its April 2022 show specifically attracted attention from Catholic media.
“How does a drag show fit the mission of a Catholic university?” the Catholic News Agency’s (CNA) Joe Bukuras reported at the time.
“That is what a Catholic education expert asked when hearing about such a performance, which took place at Jesuit university in Philadelphia on Friday,” Bukuras continued:
Dr. Denise Donohue, Vice President for Educator Resources at the Cardinal Newman Society — an organization which promotes and defends faithful Catholic education — told CNA April 27 that “the mission of Catholic education is to evangelize and witness to the truth of God and the world through complete integral human formation.”
“How do these types of shows do that?”
However, the LGBTQ club’s on-campus drag shows go back even further than two years ago.
In 2019, SJU’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity (OID) wrote on X (then known as Twitter), “Tonight at 8pm in the Perch, Join us with [SJU Pride] for the 20-Bi-Teen Royal Drag Show.”
“Come watch SJU student performers as drag queens and kings and learn about drag culture and history,” OID’s post continued. “We hope to see you there!”
The event featured Jujubee from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and Erika Klash from “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula.”
OID is not the only SJU office to have promoted on-campus “drag” shows on social media.
A February 2018 X post from SJU Hawk Hosts stated: “As a 1st gen college student, I was nervous that college wasnt for me. At SJU tho, I found my home with [OID] and [the SJU Women’s Center] … and work study where I create events like SJU’s annual drag show.”
Per its X bio, the Hawk Hosts at the time described itself as “the official tour guides and ambassadors of [SJU Admissions].” This Hawk Hosts’ X account has not made a post since September 2018. However, the organization’s Instagram account appears to remain active.
The SJU Women’s Center also promoted the 2018 “drag” show from its X account. In the post, it called the specific show the “2nd Annual,” implying that the first such show was held in 2017.
The Women’s Center X account also has not posted since 2018. Its pinned post advertised that year’s far-left, pro-abortion Women’s March in Philadelphia.
SJU’s mission statement declares: “As Philadelphia’s Jesuit Catholic University, Saint Joseph’s provides a rigorous, student-centered education rooted in the liberal arts.”
“We prepare students for personal excellence, professional success and engaged citizenship,” the 173-year-old Jesuit institution continues:
Striving to be an inclusive and diverse community that educates and cares for the whole person, we encourage and model lifelong commitment to thinking critically, making ethical decisions, pursuing social justice and finding God in all things.
