Sister Boom Boom, also known as Sister Mary Boom Boom, was the drag

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

persona of

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

Jack Fertig (February 21, 1955 – August 5, 2012). He was a prominent member of the

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality (particular ...

, a gay activist group founded in San Francisco in 1979.

Drag career

Often erroneously credited as a founder of the group, Sister Boom Boom actually joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 1980, several months after its founding. His persona's full name was Sister Rose of the Bloody Stains of the Sacred Robes of Jesus, which—when spoken—would trail into a sing-song cadence and a long

fermata A fermata (; "from ''fermare'', to stay, or stop"; also known as a hold, pause, colloquially a birdseye or cyclops eye, or as a grand pause when placed on a note or a rest) is a symbol of musical notation indicating that the note should be ...

. In 1982, Sister Boom Boom ran for a seat on the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...

with

agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...

campaigning tactics bringing humor and raising issues he felt were being ignored in the race. He won 23,124 votes with his occupation listed as "Nun of the Above". Five supervisors were elected; he placed eighth. After he started campaigning for mayor in the 1983 recall election against incumbent

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...

, San Francisco passed an ordinance requiring candidates to use only their

legal name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ...

s on the ballot. This was commonly called the "Sister Boom Boom law". Boom Boom wrote a theatrical-ritual

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...

Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...

and

Phyllis Schlafly Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (; born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; August 15, 1924 – September 5, 2016) was an American attorney, conservative activist, and anti-feminist, who was nationally prominent in conservatism. She held paleoconservative soc ...

. The exorcism was performed by the Sisters in Union Square on July 13, the Friday before the

1984 Democratic National Convention The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was no ...

, before a crowd of about 2,000. Boom Boom is one of the characters in Emily Mann's play ''

Execution of Justice ''Execution of Justice'' is an ensemble play by Emily Mann chronicling the case of Dan White, who assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk in November 1978. The play was originally commissio ...

'' about the trial of

Dan White Daniel James White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American politician who assassinated George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, inside San ...

for the 1978 assassinations of

George Moscone George Richard Moscone ( ; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 37th mayor of San Francisco from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known as "The People's ...

and

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised i ...

. Moscone was

mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...

and Milk was the city's first openly gay supervisor. In the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

production, Boom Boom was played by

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...

. Fertig retired Sister Boom Boom in 1985, and joined a

sobriety Sobriety is the condition of not having any effects from alcohol (drug), alcohol and other psychoactive drug, drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at Childbirth, birth. A person in a state of sobriety is ...

program. He left the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in the spring of 1986, though he would continue activism beyond drag.

Personal life

Fertig was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on February 21, 1955. Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

father and a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

mother, he associated with many religions throughout his life. He had variously identified as

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

, before converting to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

in 2001. Fertig never identified as a woman. Fertig worked as an astrologer. He died on August 5, 2012, in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, from

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

References

External links

Sistory of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Film of interview with Sister Boom Boom and Dianne Feinstein

Oral history as part of ''California Revealeds GLBT Historical Society collection
Conducted by Roland Schembari
Jack Fertig aka Sister Boom Boom - Nomination page on 'The Legacy Project Chicago'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boom-Boom, Sister 1955 births 2012 deaths American astrologers Muslims from California American people of Jewish descent Converts to Islam from Roman Catholicism Politicians from San Francisco Deaths from liver cancer in California American drag queens LGBTQ history in San Francisco Gay Muslims American gay entertainers LGBTQ people from Illinois American LGBTQ rights activists Muslim astrologers Activists from San Francisco Former Anglicans American former Christians Drag performers from Chicago Drag performers from San Francisco Activists from Chicago Politicians from Chicago