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San Francisco activist dies at 91 after spending final night at the club

11 0
11.05.2026

Huntly Gordon, San Francisco’s unofficial pope, has died after falling in his apartment and hitting his head. Gordon, a businessman, activist and longtime member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, spent his last night out dancing at the club. He was 91 years old.

In the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the LGBTQ charity behind San Francisco’s annual Hunky Jesus competition, decades of activism and raucous performances, members of the order dress in drag as nuns, taking names like “Sister Flatulina Grande” and donning robes and white face paint. Among a flock of nuns, Gordon, who joined in 1987, was designated the lone pope. 

It happened after one Sister pointed out Gordon’s striking resemblance to Pope John Paul II, recalls Sister Roma. 

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“We were all like, ‘Oh my God, he totally does look like him,’” Roma told SFGATE. 

Pope Dementia the Last and successor Sister Morticia Mourningwood.

From then on, Gordon was Pope Dementia the Last, or Popey, appearing in white robes and a papal hat. In one 2003 performance, Gordon joined the Sisters in spoofing the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, appearing in a cage “where he could just barely reach out to fondle our young acolyte,” according to the order’s website.

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Sister Vish-Knew fondly recalled a 1980s Pride Parade in which Gordon, in pope costume, dragged a “50 foot penis covered in a plastic condom with 6 nuns inside” from his convertible. (The penis was constructed from hula hoops and flesh-colored fabric, with holes for Sisters’ arms and legs.) 

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As the order’s pope, Gordon joined in the Sisters’ protests for gay rights and recognition of the AIDS epidemic.

“He........

© SFGate