'God welcomes you': Why a Louisville church is holding a gospel drag queen show

For more than a century, Calvary Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky, has been known for the breathtaking music that echoes throughout its magnificent sanctuary.

But Friday will mark the first time drag queens will be at the center of it.

Beneath the ornate chandeliers, stunning woodwork and Tiffany stained-glass windows in the 130-year-old church, six drag queens will perform a mix of Gospel music along with a few secular, yet respectful, hits. The house of worship will host “Drag Me to Church: A Gospel Drag Show” on Friday.

As drag queens and trans people have come under fire in recent months following a heated legislative session laden with anti-LGBTQIA+ bills, the Rev. Lee Franklin Shafer said welcoming the queer community into her church is more important now than it’s ever been.

“With the political climate and just the climate in the world,” Shafer said, “I wanted them to know there are people, who are willing to say, 'we love you,' and 'we welcome you.'”

Calvary Episcopal Church has a long history of acceptance. It’s not uncommon to see Pride flags flying outside of the church, and over the years, the congregation has made a mission of welcoming the homeless and people struggling with addiction without ever asking them to change. Calvary believes there are no conditions to God’s love. Every Sunday when Shafer’s congregation comes to services, they receive a bulletin with a clear message on the front.

“Calvary’s welcome extends to all. But more importantly — God welcomes you for exactly who you are,” it says.

Shafer’s stance is that if Jesus had any strong opinions about the gay community, he would have mentioned it in his teachings in the Bible.

“And Jesus never mentioned it,” Shafer said. “What Jesus did mention over and over and over again is love.”

So Shafer along with her dear friend, Scott Robinson, who's better known as the drag queen Cadillac Seville, have put love and acceptance at the center of what they expect to be an incredibly spiritual show.

Church group goes to drag queen show

About 500 feet and a stereotype separated Shafer’s pulpit from the drag brunch at CC’s Kitchen, where she first met Cadillac two years ago.

Every Sunday, Shafer would walk from the parking lot dressed in her ceremonial garb to preach at church, and she’d see the queens walk into CC’s in their wigs, heels and dresses.

In those moments Shafer could sense the uncertainty.

“Obviously, they expected that it wouldn't be an ally situation, and that I would be judging them," Shafer recalled.

So one Sunday after service, Shafer and a few members of her congregation crossed the street to check out the show. The rector still remembers watching Cadillac’s bright blue eyes widen, apprehensively, as the glamorously dressed queen spotted the clerical collar around rector’s neck.

Today, they both laugh fondly about that first meeting. By the end of the drag brunch, the whole church group was hugging and taking selfies with the queens.

On that Sunday, Shafer only intended to introduce herself as a good neighbor and enjoy the performance. Calvary has a growing gay population, and she wanted the queens to know her church accepts the gamut of God’s children.  

The rector never planned to drag Cadillac and the performers to church, but two years later — in the very tongue and cheek title of the show  —  that’s exactly what’s happening this week.

Drag can be done in different styles

At its core, Drag Me to Church is designed as a message of love, but Shafer isn’t naïve. Not everyone is going to see it that way.

The rector knows the event will make some people uncomfortable or even angry.

“I’m not interested in offending anybody, but at the same time, I’m more interested in doing what I’m convinced is the right thing,” Shafer said.

Many people in the LGBTQIA+ community have been hurt by some religious groups, Shafer said, and there are many churches where gay people can’t openly be themselves.

She's hoping this bold message of love and acceptance can make all the difference.

Cadillac understands this firsthand.

These days the performer doesn’t embrace a specific denomination of Christianity, but she grew up Catholic and has been intimately involved with many churches over the years. She attended Bluegrass United Church of Christ while she was living in Lexington, Kentucky, in the 2010s. Cadillac served on the church council. At Christmastime she even helped that church start its first bell choir.

The first time Cadillac crossed drag with gospel music was to help Bluegrass United raise money for children at two low-income schools in Lexington. Many of the students there relied on the school for meals and didn’t have anything to eat at home during the weekend. The $20,000 that first show raised paid for backpacks full of food to tide families over from the final bell on Friday to when breakfast was served on Monday.

So, when Shafer first approached Cadillac about hosting a drag show in the church, Cadillac didn’t just want to do it for the spectacle. A performance like this needed to help the larger community, too.

Calvary has been the food arm of Central Louisville Community Ministries since 1970. For two hours, three days a week, the church distributes food to anyone who asks for it. Friday's performance is free to the public, but the church is asking guests for monetary or nonperishable donations for its food ministry.

Cadillac reached out to five performers that she knew would be respectful. In the spirit of inclusion she told them they didn’t have to perform gospel music, necessarily, just something that would match the tone, reverence and mood of the space. Think along the lines of Celine Dion or Adele. Cadillac will open the show with Sandi Patty’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and her second piece is a female-sung version of “The Prayer.”

They’re not going to parade down the aisle or dance on the altar, Cadillac said.

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When you cross a drag show with gospel music, it takes the spectacle of the glamourous costumes and combines it with the sense of worship or spirituality. It feels almost like a concert.

“I want to inspire someone and show people that drag is not a crime. Drag is entertainment; it can be done in different styles,” Cadillac said. “All you are is an actor with makeup and costumes. It’s a performance.”

'Preaching to the choir'

Shafer knows that hosting a performance like this is almost like that old cliché “preaching to the choir.”

The people who come to see a drag show in a church are likely people who are already open to this kind of performance. The members of the LGTBQIA+ community who turn out for the show probably have had other positive experiences with faith communities.

At the same time, though, it means the world to Cadillac that she can stand in a holy space as she is and share such a deep, devotional experience with the people in that room. The church can seat more than 600, and Shafer is expecting a full house from a mix of beliefs and backgrounds.

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The gospel drag show Cadillac helped organize in Lexington “was the most spiritual and the most uplifting thing you could imagine,” she remembered.

Cadillac wants that for Louisville, too.  

When she hears the words of "The Prayer," it almost brings her to tears, and when that music rings out through the ornate, vaulted ceiling it’s impossible not to be moved.

And while the sound and the spectacle itself will be undeniably powerful, the movement Shafer really wants has nothing to do with music.

It has everything to do with the hearts of Christians, who believe Cadillac and the queens need to change to worship God and be part of a church.

Reach reporter Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@courier-journal.com.