Drag Queen and King Preachers: UCC pastors engage drag performance to center God’s love and belonging

In the book Drag Queen Preacher, the Rev. Ricardo Tavárez describes preparing to get photographed as his drag persona, Luz De La Rica, after winning a local drag competition. The photographer asks, “What got you into drag?”

The question leads Tavárez to reflect on his experience of being forced out of several churches and ministries after coming out as gay.

“I’m begging anyone and everyone to understand that drag is my protest against the erasure of my struggle,” he writes. “This is my art in the face of destruction. This is a beautiful reckoning calling us all to be more human.”

It’s a heartfelt center to the forthcoming book from Pilgrim Press, which is filled with poetic memoir around culture, family, queerness, resistance, and faith. The title acknowledges how practicing drag has been a defining element of Tavárez’s ministry.

He is one among several United Church of Christ pastors using the artistry of drag to expand the message of God’s love and inclusion.  

‘What God’s welcome can look like’

For Tavárez, the practice of drag has become one of many ways he brings his artistic practices – which include drawing, painting, and visual arts – together with his faith.

“I try to intentionally find ways to connect my photography and my art to help folks see different perspectives from their own and imagine what the kingdom could look like, what belonging could look like for all of us, what God’s welcome can look like for all of us, and what justice can look like for all of us,” Tavárez said.

It was a significant experience when he first decided to “bring drag to church,” performing and preaching in a service as Luz De La Rica.

“I remember feeling the sense that this is what needs to happen. This is what I’ve been waiting for to launch fully into ministry — to break the barrier between self-expression and being a pastor, to break the barrier between the LGBTQ community and what happens on Sunday mornings, to show up in full drag to do a performance before I started preaching, and to tie the message in directly with matters and concerns of the queer community,” he said.

Shattering barriers

Tavárez currently serves as the pastor of En Vivo Church, and he recalls a time years ago when the church suddenly lost most of its members following division within its previous denomination. At the time, Tavárez would regularly consider closing the church, but each time a new queer person showed up for church, he felt called to continue building the space “to welcome anyone and everyone.” It has since grown significantly, joined the UCC, and made community central to how the church worships, with the congregation meeting around tables and including time for discussion in church services.  

Tavárez incorporates drag by hosting an annual Drag Sunday with his congregation. He also preaches at other churches as Luz De La Rica by invitation – something he has found to help churches have important and powerful conversations around being Open and Affirming.

“God wants all of us to come and be a part of what’s happening through God’s mission to the world and through the power of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “This is so much more than me putting on a fabulous wig and dress and having a lot of fun at church. It’s about shattering barriers and allowing people to be themselves and to see that God wants them just as they are.”

‘Healing and liberating’

The Rev. Brooke Dooley was a drag performer a long time before becoming a UCC pastor in Texas. When she was first invited to guest preach at a church as her drag persona, Brock Bottom, she described how it felt organic.

“What would it mean to preach as Brock, who has been very healing and liberating for me with my own trauma and understanding of gender, intimacy, and sexuality? Why wouldn’t Brock also join me in the journey of being liberated in my understanding of who God is?” Dooley reflected. “It just made sense.”

She has since guest-preached as Brock Bottom several times and has experienced a great deal of gratitude and meaningful conversations with people who reached out to her afterwards.

Dooley came out as queer while a teenager and growing up in a Southern Baptist church. She described sneaking into the only Open and Affirming church in her hometown when in high school.

“I had never seen anything like that – couples of all ages and spiritualities taking communion together. I felt like I had been lied to,” she said. She first witnessed a woman and openly gay person preaching in UCC churches.

Pushing boundaries

For Dooley, there has been a healing and liberating resonance between her drag and ministry.

“How I came into drag and how I came intro ministry are very similar, where it was essentially me confronting past hurt and creating something beautiful and liberating from it,” she said. “I’m a hairy, queer, tattooed, mentally ill, gender-fluid youth pastor in College Station, Texas. Having gone through the things that I went through when I was younger and relearning what it means to be in love with my body and to have relationships that are healthy, and to recognize boundaries and push boundaries – drag was something that really helped me work through those things. Drag made me braver being who I am and able to embrace everything I have experienced and incorporate that into my ministry.”

Dooley expressed gratitude that people have invited her ministry and drag to share the same space.

“It’s always been an invitation from people to preach in drag,” she said. “And once I get up there and start talking, I realize the invitation that I’ve been given is to do something that’s very healing without even knowing it. And isn’t that what church should be?”

The growing edge of tradition

The Rev. James Admans views the present time as one where the church is changing and evolving. Drag offers a way to continue building upon the growing edge of the UCC’s tradition and one way to actively live into a commitment to being Open and Affirming, they said.

The UCC pastor in Massachusetts offers drag church – a space of “bold, vibrant celebration of the diversity within God’s creation, offering a sacred space where everyone – LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and allies alike – can come together to experience and honor God’s radical, unconditional love.”

When Admans first held a drag church service in New York City, people showed up at the church looking for the drag show. The ushers welcomed them in, and at first the people were confused to walk into a church service, but they stayed and loved it, Admans said.

For drag church, Admans offers to lead worship, preach, and give communion as their drag persona Rev. Marge.

“It’s a very beautiful experience, because it throws away those rules about how you’re expected to behave and show up in church,” they said. “If you do church differently, we’re going to show up differently. And we’re going to also deepen our understanding of what church can be and deepen our relationship with God in this way.”

Admans brings a depth of theological and historical study and expertise into their engagement with drag preaching, something they also offer through their Theology Queen presence online. This acts as a way for Rev. Marge to engage queer theology and make it accessible to people who cannot physically attend drag church, Admans said. Admans has also created and edited the book Beyond Worship: Meditations on Queer Worship, Liturgy, & Theology.

‘Drag church is for everyone’

Admans emphasized how drag preachers are offering their spiritual gifts to the broader church.

“Some people’s spiritual gifts are drag, and some people’s spiritual gifts are preaching, and there are at least a handful of us who have both of those gifts,” they said. “I think it is a gift to the larger church, because it’s not just for queer people. It is for everyone. Queer people are not the only ones who have been excluded and harmed by the church. Putting together queer people and the church is calling into question all the ways the church has been exclusive and harmful. We’re bringing the church closer to what Jesus had envisioned, which is a movement. It’s not just sitting in the pews, but there is something behind it to move us closer to the dreams that God has for us.”

“And people will absolutely show up to drag church,” Admans added. “People who don’t come to church will show up to drag church. Don’t underestimate drag.”

Admans expressed gratitude for Tavárez’s Drag Queen Preacher and the messaging it creates.

“It sends a powerful message that we exist, and that there will be more of us. There will be more drag preachers. Get ready. We’re not an anomaly.”

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