Times Square Church Reaches Agreement With Cross-Dressers Next Door
St. Malachy's Catholic Church in Times Square stopped calling for the cancellation of a brunch-time drag show at Lillie's restaurant next door, and the cross-dressers ended their plan to protest outside the church after they reached an understanding.
The Rev. Richard Baker of the church on 49th Street withdrew his demands that Lillie's stop the show, and the drag performer known as Epiphany Get Paid agreed to cancel their protest outside the church.
Epiphany sang at the brunch as planned on Sunday, according to New York Post. The show, billed as a "dragilicious brunch event," had her singing show tunes like "Popular" from "Wicked" and "When You're Good to Momma" from "Chicago."
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The two resolved their differences with the help of New York City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn, who organized a conference call.
"Speaker Quinn's office brought the two parties together to discuss the matter and both sides were heard," Zoe Tobin, a spokeswoman for Quinn, told The Huffington Post on Friday. "Each party acknowledged their differences, but figured out a way to live next door to each other in peace. New York's strength is in its diversity, and the speaker is thankful to have helped achieve a successful result."
"It was a misunderstanding," Epiphany said. "It's been a learning curve in diplomacy. Initially I was completely offended. Now, I feel victorious," she was quoted as saying.
"It's a very innocent show," Baker was quoted as saying. "I understand that now. We were able to talk, and it was awesome," he said, adding the drag show brought to his mind what Times Square once used to be – known for pornography, prostitution and drugs.
"I had a concern about what this means," he said. His predecessor at St. Malachy's "worked so tirelessly to fight the crime and the drugs and the prostitution, so when these things pop up I guess I got a little too overzealous."
Epiphany said her show was family-friendly and mainstream. "I work at more bar mitzvahs than a DJ, I really do," she said, adding she never had a face-off with the church. "If I wanted to clash with the church, I'd move to Rome, or I'd stay in the small Christian conservative town I grew up in. I moved to New York to be a free person."
