sistawendy | Requiescas in pace, Sister Wendy Beckett.

I knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later, but I'm still sad about it: the real Sister Wendy has died at 88, says the BBC.

You might wonder why a transgender lesbian with... certain unusual tastes would pay homage to a Roman Catholic nun. If you do, you must never have seen any of her ten-minute shorts about art history, which are the start of her claim to fame. She usually had something deeply insightful and occasionally even feminist to say about the art.

I'm not proud to say that I made fun of how she looked and sounded at Trouble's Halloween party in 1999, which is why T assigned me the username "sistawendy" on her MOO, DownMOO. It does, however say something very good about Britain that the BBC would let somebody who looked and sounded so unintentionally hilarious in front of a camera. I wish the US were more like that.

And another thing: I once watched an interview with her. Despite the perception that I'd formed of her as an unconventional, funky old lady, she was the most articulate spokesperson for the Catholic church that I've ever heard, even to this day. She was a nun all the way. Yes, even with today's "cool" Pope the Catholic church is nastily transphobic and much else that is wrong, but I had to admire Sister Wendy's capability and dedication, however misdirected I might judge it.