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 In 1976, the year of our nation's bicentennial, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a convent of Roman Catholic nuns lent some retired habits to a group of men performing their version of "The Sound of Music."
Three years later, on Easter weekend of 1979, those habits resurfaced in the streets of San Francisco's Castro district in a form scarcely imagined by their original owners.
One wore a beard. Another carried a toy machine gun, and smoked a cigar. The third wore a face of clown white - in part, for artistic expression, and partially to keep her identity hidden from potential "dates."
Needless to say, the neighborhood was not prepared.
In the next several months following the first manifestation of The Sisters, they found themselves called to service, just as more "traditional" Sisters have been for centuries.
They attended nuclear protests, cheering the crowd with pompon routines.
They held bingo/disco charity event, raising money for gay Cuban refugees.
Perhaps their most defining, vanguard moment was creating the world's VERT FIRST safer-sex, sex-positive publication, in 1982, months before the acronym AIDS was created.
The next year, the first AIDS Candlelight vigil in 1983 was orchestrated by the Sisters, led by the banner "Fighting for our Lives," also created by the Sisters.
In the years following, The Sisters continued to raise funds, awareness, and eyebrows with their own brand of unapologetic sense of humor. They would become well known for being frontrunners in event planning, outreach, and fundraising for charitable organizations in need.
It wasn't long until other orders of The Sisters were founded, worldwide.
Over 30 years later, there are chapters of The Sisters across the United States, Europe, South America, and Australia, each dedicated to spreading joy, banishing guilt, and serving their local community.
In November 2009, three complete strangers interested in forming a new chapter of The Sisters in Orlando, Florida were introduced to each other by the United Nuns Privy Council. One was a missionary sister moving to Orlando from The Abbey of St. Joan in Seattle, Washington. One had a calling and previous experience working with the Tampa Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The third, a native, had heard of The Sisters existing elsewhere for many years, and desperately wanted Orlando to have a chapter of its own.
The three met, found others that also had the calling, and quickly began ministering to the Orlando community.
 On the same weekend as The Orlando Sisters' first manifestation, the local LGBT Community Center and the neighboring businesses were vandalized, being spray-painted with anti-gay slurs and a swastika. The Sister immediately planned a community fundraiser for The Center called "Get Your Paint On". Members of the community came out, donated money, and took part in creating a community mural of a rainbow on the very same wall that was vandalized.
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, The Orlando Sisters were deeply honored with a unanimous vote of the nation's houses to become an official Mission of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
 The next month, The Orlando Sisters helped the Parliament House with their "Change for Haiti" event, raising over $1,600 for the American Red Cross' Haitian earthquake relief efforts.
The Orlando Sisters then started their own safer sex outreach project, being welcomed by local nightclub management with open arms to come spread joy to patrons and distribute condoms and lube to anyone who needs them that evening.
The Orlando Sisters have all sorts of plans in the works. Continue to look forward to more fun, fundraising, and frolic in the future! Our history is being written as we speak!
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