MANILA, Philippines – A now-viral performance by drag queen Pura Luka Vega in a local bar garnered mixed reactions from netizens, which left others wondering where to draw the line between “expression” and “mockery.” 

On Monday, July 10, Pura Luka Vega posted a video where she is seen wearing a costume inspired by the Black Nazarene while jamming to a remix of Ama Namin (Our Father) with an audience.

Thank you for coming to church! 🙏 https://t.co/aCw7fap3fH pic.twitter.com/nUKWV1M7PW

— Pura Luka Vega 🙃 (@puralukavega) July 9, 2023

After the video received backlash from devout Catholics, the drag queen clarified in a Twitter space that it was her way of “actually praising God” and to “challenge our notions of how we worship and we sing our praise.”

https://t.co/26GrbM6R7O

— Pura Luka Vega 🙃 (@puralukavega) July 11, 2023

“It’s me trying to reclaim as a Christian or as a Catholic what I think can be considered as [an] acceptable form of worship,” she said.

Amid the uproar, Pura Luka Vega posted another tweet on Thursday, July 13, emphasizing that while she understands that her performance was deemed “blasphemous, offensive or regrettable,” critics are in no place to tell her how to practice her faith or her drag.

“That performance was not for you to begin with. It is my experience and my expression, of having been denied my rights,” she said.

I understand that people call my performance blasphemous, offensive or regrettable. However, they shouldn’t tell me how I practice my faith or how I do my drag. That performance was not for you to begin with. It is my experience and my expression, of having been denied my rights.

— Pura Luka Vega 🙃 (@puralukavega) July 13, 2023

Some social media users rallied behind Pura Luka Vega, saying that the performance was meant to celebrate the queer community’s complicated relationship with religion.

Well, I argue in my thesis that queers queering (thru gender performance) the Catholic traditions, or Church traditions in general, as a means to assert their spaces in the Church who had considered them afflicted for ages. Besides, who gets to say how you worship God? https://t.co/mqbc7BMsbc

— Latrell Felix 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩🇱🇧🇵🇭 (@latrellfelix_) July 11, 2023

Drag is art. Art is expression. This is freedom of expression. Uncomfortable? Good. That's what art is supposed to do. Make people uncomfortable. https://t.co/6sx3A6Ubzv

— Benedict Bernabe (@yogawithben) July 11, 2023

art is meant to comfort the disturb and disturb the comfortable

check ur privilege po, dami dami issues on hate crimes targeted towards the member of the community, ngayon kayo iiyak, pls pls pls kaya Im really faith>religion https://t.co/xpj9lqsmdc

— Nick (@_nickdeocampo) July 11, 2023

Might I add to the conversation, that they may have found a way to celebrate their complicated relationship with their religion, without having people around them condemn them to hell by default. The use of religious imagery in alternative art forms isn't new. Cue Lady Gaga 1/x https://t.co/cDqzFFdH7Z

— Miguel Canillas (@migocanillas) July 11, 2023

as both an ally and a devout Christian, i was personally not offended by this video. the performance actually does not even harm anyone nor prevent u to exercise ur faith. it's meant to assert and occupy spaces denied to them by the v oppressive institution u claim to defend. https://t.co/cAihOMp1jK

— 🌧 (@toshkaaaa_) July 11, 2023

One netizen even asserted that she is perfectly fine with the performance if it gets people to pray and to keep their faith. 

If this will remind you to pray, and still believe in faith, hope, and charity – which is the centrality of the Gospels and Jesus' public ministry, THEN I'LL TAKE IT!

– Mx. Salmo Nella
BS Religious Education, MA Theology, Candidate, Doctor in Religious Education 💕 https://t.co/1UQ1xp2b54

— Salmo Nella 🍣 (@ohmysalmyy) July 11, 2023

Other social media users also called out the drag queen’s critics for demanding respect in spite of the atrocities faced by the LGBTQ+ community because of religion.

https://twitter.com/juusstinnn/status/1678738287274651648?s=20

You guys can excuse the LBGTQIA+ community being prosecuted or even hate crimed bc of religion on a daily basis but a drag artist using ama namin the remix to have fun and celebrate queer art with no harm intended is suddenly were yall draw the line 🤔🤔 https://t.co/Z70tgPsRHQ

— A.M. 🏳️‍🌈. (@Ann2knee) July 11, 2023

Naniniwala talaga ako na “Religion is the root of LQBTQIA+ struggles here in the Philippines”

Wag niyo simulan yang dapat respetuhin namin kayo para tanggapin niyo kami BS. It’s giving Stockholm Syndrome. Your religion is not the ultimate belief. https://t.co/F9nmSPAwEJ

— Aries Night (@AriesNight_) July 11, 2023

On the supposedly blasphemous drag event: It might be a direct attack on religion or it might be reimagining religious inclusivity – hard to say as an outsider. But honestly, the Church should be begging for forgiveness from gender and sexual minorities, not the other way around.

— Sharmila Parmanand (@shaaarmila) July 12, 2023

Meanwhile, some netizens wondered if the performance would still be seen as offensive if done by a cisgendered impersonator instead of a queer person.

I wonder if the mélange of negative comments will still be the same if the one who performed Jesus is a cis man & the performance happened in an art theater & not in a dingy room, still w a punk rock “Ama Namin” music. You call it blasphemous? I call it homophobia. https://t.co/KCw3FoVH3j

— jay (@jombitskee) July 11, 2023

Idk does this not feel joyful and affirming albeit silly? Pag straight jesus impersonator tapos naghihiphop funny pero pag queer jesus impersonation tapos naglilipsync it's suddenly offensive? Is being in drag offensive? https://t.co/Xk49GJQM8p

— Kent (FKA Sid) 🇵🇸 (@Squideeboi) July 11, 2023

Pura Luka Vega expressed the same sentiment in her Twitter space. 

“I was very careful when I did that because I don’t want it to come across as something that’s very offensive. But then again, it was still taken as something that’s very offensive. It made me realize na was it offensive because I’m a queer individual, or was it of other factors?” she said.

‘This is overboard’

Several netizens criticized the drag queen’s “blasphemous” performance for “disrespecting” their faith and “mocking their God.”

This is blasphemy.

This disrespects my faith.

This went overboard. https://t.co/Y9XELNOtFk

— JV Ejercito (@jvejercito) July 12, 2023

If you find it offensive when a straight man dresses and acts like a queer, why do you condemn the faithful who felt offended by this video because it mocks their God? Even if I love drag, I myself cannot finish watching this video because I find it blasphemous. https://t.co/4Gxo6vYshr

— Diane💗🌸 (@MaeDianeAzores) July 11, 2023

https://twitter.com/GG41Treasures/status/1678673862538706944?s=20

Mukhang we can't force forgiveness sa ganito content..

Blasphemous! and Trashy

you crossed the line, deserved mo mabash

— Tsunayoshi (@tempesterJ) July 10, 2023

This is too much. I respect you as a Drag Artist but Church songs are not made for entertainment!!!

— Paul Ryan Obien ⚡️ (@obienism09) July 11, 2023

https://twitter.com/AnikaxRose/status/1678741965767344129?s=20

Some also said that if the queer community is asking for respect, then they should also give the same treatment to other people’s beliefs.

We know this is offensive to religious pips, so why do we resort to this kind of entertainment? I know they have offended us many times due to their religion, but aren't we doing the same with this kind of gesture? Those people will hate us more, instead of them listening to us.

— Ruru (@ruruignacio) July 11, 2023

This is why I've misgivings about this community 'coz even before some of you were bullied and disrespected,you've bullied and disrespected others already. 🙄

— AC Nixon (@nixonapun) July 11, 2023

As a general rule, wala dapat bastusan ng religion. Gusto nyong respetuhin kayo pero ganito pinapakita niyo?

— Katniss EverNadine (@everNadine) July 11, 2023

You don’t win allies from Catholics, especially the most conservative among them, by offending them.

— JR Santiago (@oslecjunior) July 11, 2023

This is bullshit.

You ask for respect yet you won't respect our religion, our faith, our way of life.

The Lord's Prayer is a model prayer directly taught by Jesus to his disciples and us his followers.

Don't disrespect and blaspheme our religion for likes and attention. https://t.co/MHwDDHikGa

— Ron Munsayac (@RonMunsayac) July 12, 2023

Other social media users took this incident as an opportunity to oppose the controversial SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender, identity, and expression) anti-discrimination bill, which has yet to hurdle Congress since it was filed in 2000.

The proposed measure, according to a gender expert, only makes up for the disparity that puts heterosexuals at an advantage and does not include special rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

My last take on this Ama Namin remix buzz:

Nakatulong ba itong mga ganitong paandar sa ikasusulong ng SOGIE BILL? Edi lalo nag-create ng division diba? Don't be woke defending this mishap, be woke sa totoong laban sa labas ng twt. This is counter-productive to the bigger fight.

— Jisi ⌬℞🌻 (@jacedfghjkl) July 11, 2023

My relationship with God is between me and Him. Abuse HIM, I won’t worry- HE’S A GOD.
But gender ideologues like this drag and those who worships the rainbow cult are..🙄
Obviously, here’s proof we don’t need SOGIE.
He’s exercising his rights.
🇵🇭I support #Bill449 but NOT SOGIE.

— nognog (@nognognation) July 11, 2023

Kaya nga mas favor ako no to sogiebill with this kind of act. Both parties ay walang respect to each other.

— Dark Demon (@aj_magoon) July 12, 2023

Please stop sogie bill if they really want respect they must respect Our Heavenly Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what is their religion or belief!

— Grippen (@vivacious_ph) July 12, 2023

Eh di huwag din kayong maoffend kapag binabastos kayo at ang community. Para equal. Wag na ring ipasa ang Sogie bill. Ang hirap niyong ipaglaban eh. Kayo mismo ang gumagawa ng ikakagalit sa inyo ng mga tao.

— Arc x Saba (@ari_eru22) July 12, 2023

Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a statement that while she found the performance “regrettable,” the incident should not be used “to deny rights and protections to a community that has long been marginalized and excluded.”

'OUR PLATFORMS SHOULD BUILD BRIDGES'

Senator Risa Hontiveros hopes for "self-reflection, compassion, and healing" among the religious and LGBTQ+ communities following Pura Luka Vega's controversial "Ama Namin" performance. https://t.co/K88FYZlZSd pic.twitter.com/yKl9BHI6R4

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) July 13, 2023

What are your thoughts on this issue? – Rappler.com