A Methodist Church Is Partnering With A Lakeland Drag Artist For Worship Services

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — With legislation targeting drag artists passed by the state House and Senate, a Central Florida drag performer is partnering with a St. Petersburg church to bring the artform to Sunday worship services.

The anti-drag measure is now on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, waiting for him to sign it into law. Though they never specifically mention drag, HB 1423 and SB 1438 would block venues from allowing children to attend “adult live performances” that simulate sexual activities or expose breasts for offensive reasons, among other criteria.

If they become law, any venue found in violation could lose its liquor license.

Lakeland’s Momma Ashley Rose — the stage name of Jason DeShazo — has been a vocal critic of the proposed bill.

“The rhetoric is so annoying. The bills are so vague that it’s easy to target drag or any form of expression they don’t like,” Rose told Patch. “These types of bills and these sorts of vagueness has brought Nazis to my events, brought death threats.”

Now, she’s bringing her family-friendly drag to Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg for fifth Sunday services. She and other drag performers will next participate in July 30 services at the church. (Watch a video of Rose performing at the church below.)

“In this time when Tallahassee and big parts of our culture continue to send out the message that being LGBTQ is somehow illegal or a crime, when the community, especially the trans and drag community, are called groomers, I just really felt the need to not only offer a safe space, but to offer a space that was loving and affirming of who they were created to be,” the Rev. Andy Oliver, senior pastor at the church, told Patch. “I saw no better place for that than right in the center of worship, where we are there to learn better how to love our neighbor.”

The attacks the community has seen are why Rose's new partnership with Allendale UMC is so important.

“The drag and trans community has really become this scapegoat,” she said.

Rose surprised churchgoers at last Sunday’s services by singing an original song to announce the partnership.

“When Momma Ashley Rose sang her song, we had the longest standing ovation that we've ever had at Allendale,” Oliver said.

Rose promises to bring diverse performers and voices to the stage at Allendale.

“I was a worship leader for a very long time, so church music is in my blood,” she said. “We’re going to bring the diverseness of drag. It might be good ol’ gospel; it might be inspirational (music); it might be hymns. We’re just gonna test it out and see how it goes.”

A Florida native and ordained minister, Rose knew from an early age that she was gay and has long felt the pull to perform drag, which she’s done for more than 20 years. Wanting to reach a larger audience, her events have always been family friendly.

“We’re the Disney of drag,” she said. “I felt like my call in life was to do something different with my art and from the beginning, I’ve wanted to provide that safe atmosphere and space for all ages.”

Religion has always been a complicated part of Rose’s life, as well. She was raised as part of a Pentecostal church that didn’t accept her sexuality.

“I grew up in a very religious home,” she said. “Our life was church. And obviously, I grew up during the AIDS movement. From the start, there was this negative stigma on top of religious teachings that were not accepting of it.”

The church pushed her parents to send her to conversion therapy.

“I’m a survivor of that trauma,” Rose said. “The church organizers forced them to do it. I never blame my parents for that. They did what they were told and what thought they should do. … But it made me who I am. It made me gay and a drag queen. It pushed me on this journey I’m on today.”

She went on to become an ordained minister as a teen, a title she still holds today, though she doesn’t associate with any specific religion.

In 2017, she launched the Rose Dynasty Foundation Inc., which hosts regular events, like drag brunches and bingo, to raise money for various community charities.

“I started Rose Dynasty because I remember growing up and being in a religious home and discovering my sexuality and who I was,” she said. “It was this constant battle of not being loved, accepted and wanted. I felt the need to start an organization to spread a message of love and acceptance to everyone, because I didn’t have it as a queer youth.”

Rose added, “You don’t have to be queer to understand how it feels not to be loved, accepted and wanted.”

Her focus has been on all-ages shows to create a safe space for everyone.

“Whether a 3-year-old or a 90-year-old walks in, I want them to feel safe and comfortable around what’s going on,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with adult-type drag. It’s just my journey to provide a safe space for people.”

The organization also goes beyond drag, offering all performing arts — singing, dancing, music — as entertainment, as well as visual arts events.

In recent years, with the Republican-controlled state legislature and GOP Gov. DeSantis passing and pushing anti-LGBTQ and anti-drag laws and policies, Rose has felt the effects on her events.

A Lake Wales venue recently canceled the organization’s monthly drag bingo events after receiving threats.

In March, the foundation was left scrambling to find a new venue for its annual pageant just days before the event after the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando pulled out at the last minute because of the anti-drag legislation being considered at the time.

Though the group moved the event to Kissimmee’s Wyndham Orlando Resort, which welcomed them wholeheartedly, and went on to raise more money than it ever has before, they still lost donations in the process.

“It was one of the biggest fundraisers we’ve ever done, but we still lost thousands of dollars,” Rose said. “We probably lost six grand moving the event in ticket sales we never got back. … I don’t like how it was handled by (the Dr. Phillips Center.)”

In December, protesters holding Nazi flags and yelling slurs showed up at the group's annual queer art event benefitting CampOUT, an LGBTQ+ youth summer camp in Florida. It was an event Rose had hosted for years without any incidents.

“I wasn’t scared of the protesters; I wasn’t scared of the Nazis; I’m scared of the people who believe them,” she said. "They’re the people who do crazy things. It opens the door to hate and creates violent situations.”

As for the pending anti-drag legislation, she isn’t worried if it gets signed into law.

These potentially illegal performances are defined as "any show, exhibition or other presentation in front of a live audience which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts when it predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest (or) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community of this state as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for the age of the child present," according to SB 1438.

In fact, Rose has already heard from other Central Florida churches that want to bring similar drag performances to their worship services.

“This should be protected under religious rights,” Rose said. “You want to scream religious rights for you? Well, we get it, too.”

Watch Rose perform an original song at Allendale United Methodist Church on Sunday: