He was an invited speaker for the distant, Arizona-centered Desert Southwest Conference’s “Pride Month Worship Service” last year. Now certified as an ordination candidate in the historically moderate Illinois-Great Rivers Annual Conference, this drag-queen activist has been celebrated by liberal United Methodists across the nation. There is, however, a reference to the “reclamation of Spirituality” and a claim of “Love, Affirmation and Celebration which ever flows from the Divine.” Penny Cost’s “About” page, Simmons found a home in the UMC after coming out as gay, and discovered in the UMC’s doctrine a “beautiful understanding of Grace, a history of reformation, and a desire to right the wrongs of injustice, oppression, and exclusion.” Throughout this brief autobiography, Simmons never directly mentions Jesus Christ, salvation, or repentance of personal sin. Throughout the entire five-minute rant, Simmons belittles God’s divinity, holiness, and supremacy.Īccording to Ms. Simmons even repeats “God is nothing” several times, at one point declaring “God is nothing, but if she were, she would be a seamstress, of divine couture, weaving together string theory and self-portraits to form the fiercest gowns of queer existence.” Simmons goes so far as to reference the “nothingness” of the Bible, God, and religion with an explicit gay pornography term. The poem eventually devolves into a condemnation of “theology of toxic masculinity” and “Christian terrorists who wield their flappable doctrine to inflict harm on God’s queerly anointed creation.” Simmons even likens Christians with traditional biblical beliefs to literal murderers of gay people like Aaron McKinney, Roger Nunez, and Omar Mateen. ![]() In this video, he calls the Bible “nothing but poetry, pain, and performance” and refers to God as “God, themself” (avoiding male pronouns for God). Simmons delivers the poem orally as himself (wearing a shirt with the words “PROUD MARY” and an apparent picture of a statue of Jesus Christ’s mother overlaid with rainbow colors), rather than in his drag queen persona. Simmons opens with a shocking disparagement of the Bible’s unique authority, stating, “The Bible is no more holy than Allen Ginsburg’s howls of life, no more peaceful than Oscar Wilde’s Requiescat in pace, and no more stronger than Tammy f-ing Faye’s g-d- eyelash glue.” It contains repeated use of profanity (including blasphemy), consistent anger-filled claims against orthodoxy, casual hate, and a denial of God. Blatantly titled “The Bible is Nothing” the video is now featured prominently on Simmons’ website. The video immediately raises questions about the wisdom of ordaining Simmons. ![]() Penny Cost,”and has been featured as a speaker for progressive United Methodists across the country. Simmons regularly preaches in drag as the female persona “Ms. Recently, a video was posted by openly gay Isaac Simmons, an associate pastor at Hope UMC in Bloomington, Illinois, who has been widely celebrated as the first drag queen certified as an ordination candidate in the UMC. While it may seem like a challenging role, fans of “Little Britain” can probably as well vouch that the role is one Lucas will likely flourish in - a notion not lost of the actor himself who joked that “playing an overweight homosexual will be a real challenge!” The film stars Steve Coogan as porn-baron Paul Raymond alongside Anna Friel, Tamsin Egerton, Imogen Poots, Chris Addison, Dara O’Briain and Sarah Solemani for the Matt Greenhalgh-scripted tale.As the United Methodist Church (UMC) splits apart, the depth of the denomination’s division over human sexuality and related theological questions is becoming increasingly obvious. Lensing is set to begin in Serbia next month.īefore that, though, Lucas is also noted to be part of Michael Winterbottom‘s currently-lensing “ King Of Soho,” where he’ll play the part of famous drag queen and regular John Waters collaborator, Divine. A great cast and strong source material, no doubt, but will Stratton deliver on his directorial debut? Let’s hope so. ![]() Lucas will play Olivier, a policeman who, along with his inspector father, regularly calls upon the Raquin family.ĮW are also describing the film as a “dark, erotic thriller” which, we guess, is the first indication of how they’ll tackle Zola’s novel. With a strong cast featuring Jessica Lange (who replaced Glenn Close), Elizabeth Olsen, Oscar Isaac and Tom Felton, the story centers the titular young woman (Olsen), trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin Camille (Felton), who enters a passionate affair with her husband’s best friend Laurent (Isaac), with tragic results for everyone involved.
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