By Karen Gleason
830 Times
Pastors representing 13 Del Rio churches Wednesday presented City Manager Matt Wojnowski with a letter voicing their opposition to the ongoing filming here of an HBO series following three drag queens.
“By means of this letter, we would like to inform you that we are not in favor of the event that will take place on Thursday, June 10, at our historic Brown Plaza,” the letter begins.
“We feel that our city officials were not elected for the purpose of promoting such events as these that are contrary to what has been established by God,” the letter continues.
The letter concludes, “Another reason why we believe this event should not be held is because we are still in a pandemic and this would put our community’s health at risk.”
The letter, released to the 830 Times by Del Rio City Councilman Jim DeReus, is signed by the following pastors: Ruben Chairez of Primera Iglesia Bautista, Manuel Figueiras of Centro Oasis de Amor, Ruben Herrera of Templo el Tabernaculo, Alfain Peñaloza of Jesucristo La Respuesta, Jesus Meza of Jesus de Nazaret, Ricardo Rubio of Principe de Paz, Manuela Meza of Roca de Salvacion, Maricela Magadan, Julian Magadan and Arnoldo Menchaca of God’s New Covenant, Salatiel Lozoya of Templo Betania, Juan Osorio of First United Methodist Church, Profirio Rodriguez of Templo Buenas Nuevas, Guadalupe Mora of Templo Betel A.G. and Timothy Ehlers of Mission De Fe.
Wojnowski informed Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano, who is to be featured in the production, and council members about the pastors’ letter in an email in which he wrote, “This afternoon 3 pastors came by to give me the following letter and express their concerns. They ask that the council be made aware of this letter. The letter was addressed from Amistad Pastoral Network. I did tell them that the city and council are not promoting this event.”
On its web site, hbo.com/were-here, HBO describes the program as “an unscripted series (that) follows small-town residents as they’re recruited and trained to participate in a one-night-only drag performance.”
The program is hosted by three former contestants on the popular “RuPaul’s Drag Race” television series, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley, who work with the residents of the cities they visit to prepare them for the performance.
The Del Rio performance will take place Thursday night at 9 at Brown Plaza.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
