a queer club got kicked out of a church, so it moved into a museum. the archbishop of sydney followed it there.

via the Star Observer, QNews and The Catholic Weekly, which published the archbishop's letter.

Divine Playhouse opened in July inside a deconsecrated church on Kent Street in Sydney, the former St John the Evangelist. It lost the lease that same month. QNews reports the landlord cited "offensive trade" after about 70 religious protesters turned up on opening night. So the venue did what every good queen does after a breakup: it moved somewhere with better lighting.

That somewhere is the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, where founder Kat Dopper, of Heaps Gay, is staging UNHOLY / DIVINE across three nights in October, opening with an event called An Unholy Funeral. And the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has followed it there with a petition.

what the archbishop wants

In an open letter to NSW Arts Minister John Graham, Fisher asks the government to pull its money. "Freedom of artistic expression is important, but it does not follow that every artistic project must be financially supported by public funding," he wrote, per The Catholic Weekly and the Star Observer. The letter also says: "Our faith is not a prop, a punchline or a source of sexual entertainment." Speaking to the Catholic Weekly, he said the performances were "basically ridiculing Catholic sacraments and sacred practices."

The money in question is a $100,000 Create NSW grant. Here is the awkward part.

the grant is already spent

A government representative told the Star Observer: "The Create NSW grant has been fully expended and is not being used for this MCA event. No NSW Government funding has been allocated to this specific event." The minister's office added that "the MCA is an independent organisation and its programming decisions are a matter for the MCA."

So the petition asks the government to withdraw funding it says it is not providing, for a party at a museum it says it does not program. The archbishop is welcome to come. Funerals are free.