Progressive churches in Colorado and Washington are hosting drag-themed Christmas events alongside more traditional services this holiday season.
Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, hosted its third annual drag Christmas show, “A Drag Christmas Spectacular,” on Dec. 19 and 20. The 90-minute performance is advertised as “a joyful, irreverent reimagining of the nativity story that celebrates queer joy, chosen family, and the power of love and acceptance.”
“Get ready for the ultimate festive extravaganza with ‘A Drag Christmas Spectacular,’ where magical Queers will slay their way to Bethlehem,” the event description says.
The event website notes that the show contains adult themes and is recommended for ages 16 and older.
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Reverend Sean Neil-Barron, a queer-identifying minister at Foothills Unitarian, told Colorado Public Radio that he created the event two years ago in response to what he described as anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced across the country.
“I was kind of sitting with that reality, and also being a queer person myself, I was just realizing what the church needs to step into this gap and say something,” Neil-Barron told the outlet in 2024. “What if we created this queer little oasis, this little queer sacred space at the holidays for folks to come and see their lives and their community lifted up as worthy, which is so needed right now?”
He called the Magi “outside figures” in the biblical story, which he said helped inspire the idea to incorporate drag and LGBTQ themes into a different nativity story.
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“What if they embodied this search for queerness?… Instead of just finding Jesus, what if they actually stumbled upon queer people coming alive, being born again, claiming joy, claiming hope, claiming resilience?” he said.
The Colorado church is not the only congregation hosting Christmas events with LGBTQ themes this year.
Emmaus Table in Seattle, Washington, which describes itself as a “spiritual community” that is LGBTQ-affirming and is connected to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, also hosted a “Christmas Carol” inspired drag event on Dec. 12 called, “Drag Church: The Yassification of Ebenezer Scrooge.”
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“The Yassification of Ebenezer Scrooge is a traditional Christmas pageant reimagined through a queer lens,” the event description says. “Based on Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, the audience follows Ebenezer Scrooge as he is guided by three drag queen spirits on a transformative journey. Together, they help him release shame and anger, embrace his true self, and rediscover the joy of community.”
The event is described as “spiritually-inclusive [and] family-friendly” and open to all ages.
Progressive denominations such as the Episcopal, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist and the United Church of Christ openly welcome LGBTQ clergy and some churches are known for hosting drag worship and other ministry events.
Foothills Unitarian and Emmaus Table did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
