While Isaac Simmons’s case is an exception to the norm in many ways, the post-separation United Methodist Church is headed for a future where we can expect such clergy candidates will be affirmed.

With the United Methodist Church’s recently announcing its General Conference would be rescheduled, further examples of the denomination’s rift over human sexuality are rising to the surface. The implementation of the church’s teachings and official doctrine, or lack thereof, continues to cause discomfort as camps with vastly different beliefs await an expected separation.

One such case comes from the Illinois-Great Rivers Annual Conference (IGRC), which covers the state except for its northernmost portion. IGRC’s Vermillion River District Committee on Ordained Ministry (DCOM) has recently unanimously approved Isaac Simmons, an openly gay man and publicly practicing drag queen, as a candidate for ministry. Mr. Simmons currently works at Hope United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Illinois as their Project & Remote Learning Coordinator. He also studies Business Management and Religious Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University.

When performing as a drag queen, Mr. Simmons goes by the name Ms. Penny Cost, and in this role he performs both independently and at times as a part of Hope Church’s Sunday services.

On his public Facebook page, Mr. Simmons shares about his spiritual life and his latest activities in drag as Penny.

On February 7, Simmons, dressed in drag, had several minutes of screen time in Hope Church’s livestreamed Sunday service. He begins by describing poet laureate Amanda Gorman’s poetry performance given at the Presidential Inauguration, and compares it to how Moses was called by God to speak for his people. A video of the whole service can be found on the church’s Facebook page.

Earlier in the year, on January 19, Simmons appeared as drag queen Penny, this time in a short video titled: “On The Move Together: A Drag Queen’s Prayer,” shared on Hope’s Church’s website.

To give just one line that is illustrative of the spiritual practices of Simmons and many others in deeply progressive United Methodist circles, the drag queen began by praying, “In the name of God the Mother, the Father, and the trans-identifying person of color.” A written reflection placed below the video notes the Presidential Inauguration which would come the next day, which would appear to be “the marvelous movement of a justice-filled moment of transition” that Penny invites those listening to join.

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