DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, BELONGING & ACCESSIBILITY

Our Commitment to Radical Inclusion, Justice & Universal Joy

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. (SPI) was founded as a leading-edge order of queer nuns committed to community service, ministry, and outreach. Since our first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday in 1979, we have strived to embody radical inclusion and equity in all we do.

From the beginning, the Sisters have challenged conventions, confronted intolerance, and celebrated the diversity of human identity and expression. Through activism, humor, compassion, and a healthy disregard for the boundaries of respectability, we have worked to create spaces where people can be themselves, find community, and experience the freedom and joy of belonging.

We believe that diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility are essential to our mission of serving the community. We are dedicated to creating spaces where all individuals—regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, or socioeconomic status—are respected, celebrated, and empowered.

WHAT DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, BELONGING & ACCESSIBILITY MEAN TO US

These five principles are interconnected, but each represents a distinct responsibility. Together, they inform how we serve our communities, engage with one another, and put our values into practice.

DIVERSITY — Celebrating Our Differences

Diversity recognizes the many identities, backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences that make up our communities. It encompasses differences in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, ability, religion, socioeconomic circumstances, and countless other aspects of human experience.

For the Sisters, diversity means more than recognizing that these differences exist. It means celebrating them, honoring the individuality of every person, and recognizing that our communities are richer when people are free to express who they are.

EQUITY — Creating Fairness and Opportunity

Equity recognizes that people do not all begin with the same opportunities, resources, or circumstances. Historical and systemic inequalities create barriers that affect individuals and communities differently.

Equity means identifying and addressing those barriers, recognizing different needs, and working to ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to participate, contribute, and thrive. Fairness does not always mean treating everyone identically; it means understanding what people need to have meaningful opportunities.

INCLUSION — Making Participation Meaningful

Inclusion is the intentional practice of ensuring that people are welcomed, respected, heard, and able to participate fully in the communities and organizations of which they are a part.

It means moving beyond simply inviting people into a space and ensuring that their voices, experiences, and contributions are genuinely valued. Inclusion requires listening, sharing opportunities, challenging exclusionary practices, and making room for perspectives different from our own.

BELONGING — Creating Community Without Conditions

Belonging is the experience of being accepted, valued, and connected to a community without having to conceal or compromise who you are.

It grows from trust, mutual respect, recognition, and the freedom to participate authentically. Belonging means more than being allowed into a space. It means knowing that your presence matters, your voice has value, and you are part of the community.

For the Sisters, creating belonging has always been central to our ministry: offering acceptance where others have imposed shame, building community where people have experienced isolation, and celebrating those whom society has too often pushed aside.

ACCESSIBILITY — Removing Barriers to Participation

Accessibility means creating environments, experiences, communications, and opportunities that people with diverse abilities, needs, and circumstances can meaningfully use and participate in.

It requires us to recognize and address physical, digital, sensory, communication, financial, and other barriers that may prevent people from engaging fully with our work.

Accessibility is not simply a matter of accommodation after someone encounters a barrier. It is an ongoing responsibility to consider different needs from the beginning, listen to those most affected, and make our spaces, activities, and resources as welcoming and usable as possible.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, BELONGING & ACCESSIBILITY

The Sisters recognize that inclusion is more than an invitation to participate. It requires a commitment to removing barriers, confronting prejudice, and ensuring that the communities we serve have opportunities to be heard, represented, and supported.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence commit to:

• Celebrating diversity and self-expression, recognizing the dignity, individuality, and humanity of every person.

• Amplifying underrepresented voices within our communities, particularly those whose experiences and contributions have historically been marginalized or overlooked.

• Creating spaces of belonging where individuals feel welcomed, respected, supported, and empowered to participate as their authentic selves.

• Advancing equity and accessibility by identifying and working to remove barriers to participation in our activities, events, programs, and organizational practices.

• Partnering with organizations and communities that reflect our shared values of justice, compassion, equity, and inclusion.

• Challenging discrimination, stigma, and intolerance through education, advocacy, service, and the joyful visibility that has defined the Sisters since our founding.

• Continuously examining our own practices to ensure accessibility, fairness, accountability, and meaningful opportunities for growth.

OUR HISTORY, OUR RESPONSIBILITY

The Sisters emerged from a community that understood the consequences of exclusion, discrimination, and shame, but also the extraordinary power of visibility, solidarity, humor, and collective action.

Our history includes decades of HIV/AIDS activism, safer-sex education, community fundraising, spiritual ministry, and service to those whose needs have too often been ignored.

We are proud of that history, while recognizing that the work of creating a more equitable and inclusive world is never finished. Even within communities built around liberation and acceptance, inequities can persist. We believe that honoring our history means celebrating our achievements while remaining willing to examine our shortcomings, listen to different perspectives, and grow.

Radical inclusion demands more than good intentions. It requires the willingness to learn, to change, and to extend the same compassion and accountability to ourselves that we seek to bring into the world.

INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION & SOLIDARITY

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula.

We honor their enduring presence and the generations who have stewarded this land. We also acknowledge that Indigenous people from many nations live and contribute to this region today.

SPI is committed to uplifting Indigenous voices and supporting their ongoing fight for justice, sovereignty, cultural preservation, and self-determination.

We invite visitors to read our full Ramaytush Ohlone Land Acknowledgment to learn more about our recognition of the First Peoples of San Francisco and our responsibilities as guests upon their ancestral homeland.

UNIVERSAL JOY, SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

For nearly five decades, the Sisters have embraced the belief that joy, compassion, and community can be powerful forces for change.

We believe that every person deserves the opportunity to live authentically, participate meaningfully, and experience the dignity of being seen, heard, and celebrated.

We invite all who engage with our work—our Sisters, volunteers, supporters, partners, and the communities we serve—to join us in fostering a more inclusive, equitable, accessible, and compassionate world.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility is inseparable from our mission to expiate stigmatic guilt and promulgate universal joy.