Catholic university Valentine's drag show will 'celebrate Queer Love'

A Catholic institution’s “Queer Student Union” will soon host a drag show on its campus in Spokane, Washington.

Gonzaga University’s QSU is organizing a Valentine’s Day drag show to “celebrate Queer Love” on Feb. 17.

[RELATED: Notre Dame prof defends campus drag show as not ‘counter to the teachings of the Church’]

A QSU Instagram post sponsoring the event seemingly mislabeled the date as “February 17th, 2023,” but included the labels, “#lgbt #jesuitlgbt #catholiclgbt #dragshow #studentsdragshow #gonzaga #gonzagalgbt.”

The show will feature drag performers, “Nova Kaine and Le Gurls” in addition to “Student Performers.”

According to his Facebook page, Nova Kaine is “The Hardest Working Drag Queen Alive.”

The performer, whose real name is Jason Johnson, was reportedly once close to becoming an ordained Episcopalian minister, according to The Spokesman-Review.

“I used to say that Nova was the other side of Jason, but I don’t really see them as opposite sides of the same coin anymore,” he told the outlet in 2021. “Nova is a lot closer to Jason, she’s probably just going to say everything that Jason wouldn’t say without two or three cocktails.”

This is neither Gonzaga’s first drag show, nor Johnson’s first performance at the Catholic university.

In 2023, The Gonzaga Bulletin reported that Johnson performed at the eighth annual drag show held by the QSU. The outlet also noted that Johnson used the opportunity to tell attendees about the “importance” and history of drag shows.

“Drag is very important as far as the LGBT community goes in that drag queens are kind of the unofficial spokesmodels of the entire LGBT community,” Johnson said at the time. “It’s mostly important right now, simply due to the fact that 14 states currently in the United States have 38 bills that are proposed to either ban or limit drag productions and drag performances in public, which I think is a horrible shame and a horrible attack.”

Some of Gonzaga’s future events “Queer Classic Cinema: Kinky Boots” on Feb. 13, and “SAGE Spotlight: Neopronouns and Gender Inclusion” on Feb. 21. According to the university, SAGE (Sexuality and Gender Equity) is “a curriculum of trainings focused on increasing LGBTQ+ knowledge, cultural fluency, identity development, allyship techniques, proactive inclusion and best practices.” 

[RELATED: 3 times Catholic universities went against Church teachings in 2023]

In March 2023, Pope Francis condemned gender ideology, stating that it is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations.”

In June 2023, Campus Reform covered a drag show at Oregon State University that featured sexually explicit costumes and performances with minors in attendance.

Campus Reform has reached out to Gonzaga University and the Queer Student Union for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.