Protesters in Downtown Memphis march against "anti-gay purge" in Chechnya

Katie Fretland | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Show Caption Hide Caption LGBT folks are Putin' on a protest Organized by recent Central High School graduate Brandon Lever, Members of the Memphis LGBT community march along Main Street Saturday afternoon to protest the torture and imprisonment of gay men by police in Chechnya.

With glitter, rainbow flags and an 'exorcism' of the Russian government performed by a group of drag nuns, protesters marched Saturday in Downtown Memphis for LGBT rights in Chechnya.

The #PutinIsADrag event began at Court Square and drew about 75 people who traveled to the lawn in front of the National Civil Rights Museum. Marchers carried signs reading "Love is love is love" and "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." They shouted "transphobia has got to go!"

Chris Riales, known as Sister Tomm Foolery, wore a bright blue nun's habit, yellow feathers and garlands of rainbow flowers. Riales led the group in a ceremony of blowing bubbles of glitter water to "exorcise the hate from the Russian and Chechen governments."

Riales was joined by David Allred, known as Sister Krisco Kringle, and Tiffany Blackthorn, known as Sister Marigold, who also donned nuns habits.

"We are a mission house of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a worldwide order of cutting-edge queer nuns devoted to spreading joy and banishing hate in all forms from all places," Riales said. "We go out into the world and proselytize our ministry in the same way that other nuns do ... It is our view that life isn't all it could be when one is burdened by shame and guilt. We take it upon ourselves to expiate that guilt and replace it with joy."

Human Rights Watch reported an "anti-gay purge" this year in Chechnya.

"They rounded up dozens of men on suspicion of being gay, held them in unofficial detention facilities for days, humiliated, starved and tortured them," the rights group reported.

Brandon Lever, 18, a leader of Saturday's event, recently mailed out thousands of handmade buttons of Putin in bright make-up in front of a rainbow background.