The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Reporter Savannah Hernandez Describes Massive Christian Protest Against Anti-Catholic Bigotry

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan sat down with field reporter Savanah Hernandez in West Palm Beach to discuss a massive protest against the anti-Catholic "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," a group of queer and trans-identifying people mocking the Catholic faith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, July 17. I'm Mary Margaret O'Lehann, and joining today's show is reporter Savannah Hernandez. Savannah sat down with me over the weekend while we were in West Palm Beach for the Turning Point USA Conference to discuss a massive protest against the anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of queer and trans-identifying people who mock the Catholic faith. We'll get to my conversation with Savannah right after this. Want the inside scoop on what's happening here at the Heritage Foundation? Check out Herd at Heritage and all new show replacing the Heritage Events Podcast.

It'll feature cutting-edge analysis and thought from leading experts in and across the conservative movement and of course the Heritage Foundation's premier events and programming. Brought straight to you. Check it out at heritage.org slash podcasts. Savannah Hernandez, thank you so much for joining us today. Tell us a little bit about what you've been doing lately. What's your latest on the ground reporting? Sure. So June was a big month. We all know that it was Pride Month. I think two of the biggest

stories that came out of that were thousands of Catholics shutting down the main entrance to Dodgers Stadium. I was one of the only reporters on the ground. They're live tweeting it, right? So showing the American public in live time what was happening. And it was incredible because with that story, I've never seen so much interest in a story, right? I think every single clip got well over a million to five million views. Every single one I posted. That was crazy. I remember seeing that and I so wished I was there. The amount of Catholics, it wasn't just Catholics, right? All these people that came out to stick a stand against the Dodgers' anti-Catholic bigotry.

Exactly. And I thought that's why it was so incredible because not only on social media where people really hungry to see it was going on with this story, but on top of that, it was this beautiful display of both Catholics, Christians. There were Jewish people there as well all coming together and say, you know what, religious discrimination is not okay. You have the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the biggest, you know, baseball franchises in California,

promoting a group that is mocking Christ, mocking our entire religion. So that was incredible to see, you don't typically see Catholics and Christians shutting down main entrances to roads. So I was like, this is kind of crazy. That's amazing.

Maybe like one of the largest religious protests in years. That's exactly. the energy was incredible and I think my favorite part about that story is that they were out there and it was actually a pretty warm day for California and you know there were no clouds in the sky beautiful sunny day they were out there from 3 p.m. game didn't start until 7 p.m. so they were out there with that energy since 3 p.m. protesting getting their voices heard so that was an incredible thing to witness of course the left wing had to come in and try to distort my reporting because what I had shown were the sisters of professionals of

intellectual indulgence being introduced, right, for their ceremony because the Dodgers honored them, and nobody was there. And I was shocked because the Dodgers have one pride night a year. So you would think that people would have shown up specifically for this group that via the media, we were told, is very supported, very. Right, we're seeing so much about them. Exactly. And just for our viewers that aren't sure what the sisters of perpetual indulgence are,

those are not sisters or nuns. They are men, largely, right? Men, I believe. dress as women pretending to be sisters of every vice that you can think of. Which Twitter people love to joke about that, by the way. They're like, oh, they're the sisters of greed or the sisters, whatever. And they are performing really disgusting acts, sexual acts, pretending to be Jesus, doing all these very just bigoted performances.

Mocking the crucifixion of Christ. Mocking the crucifixion, mocking the Catholic faith. And Christians were apparently supposed to just kind of roll over and say, oh, it's pride. This is fine. Yeah, exactly. And so... So continue. Sorry, I interrupted you.

No, no, I'm glad that you kind of clarified for people who were like, wait, who are these sisters? Why are we protesting nuns? I'm glad you clarified that. But it was incredible to see that there was really an empty stadium, right? And, of course, the left tried to come in and say, well, this was an hour before the game. But the interesting thing about that is that the Dodgers were introducing a new LGBTQ family at the end of every inning. So they specifically introduced the sister. and did their ceremony before the game was set to begin.

Nobody showed up, even though the doors were wide open, and they were supposed to have pride festivities during that time frame, right? An hour before, actually, their ceremony, nobody was there. But outside, you had thousands of Catholics peacefully demonstrating. I've never seen so many people as well. They were lining up the streets. They shut down that main entrance. It was a very beautiful display of power, solidarity, of Christianity in the United States,

which we don't typically sing. Yeah, oh, I got chills. That's so amazing. I think a lot of them were praying and singing, right? They were. It was incredible. I'm not Catholic myself. I'm Christian, which, you know,

and it was funny, too, because people on Twitter were, like, arguing, like, we're all Christians, like don't differentiate there. But I think that it was really interesting that even though we might have a small differences in our religion, that people were able to come together.

They were able to unify on this and say, we're going to stand up for our God, we are going to stand up for Christ. It was incredible. So that was one of the big stories out of June. Yeah, no, I think it also is important to acknowledge, like, you know, Catholics believe things that are different than what a lot of Christians believe and what people who are Jewish believe. And it's different sets of beliefs that are so deeply held and so important to us. And that's why we don't want people mocking sisters who devote their entire lives to serving God and to serving other people.

They make vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Those are hard vows. You know, that's why not everyone makes them. So we shouldn't be mocking them. And that's so great that you were able to be there and expose all that. I know I was paying very close attention to your work that day. Tell us a little more. You have been in so many dicey situations.

A little bit. What are some of your favorite anecdotes about being censored when you're trying to tell a story that Americans are genuinely interested in hearing? Sure. So I think that one of my favorite stories that I got to report on actually happened last year in 2022. And this is during Leah Thomas. So for viewers that don't know me, I was banned on Twitter, permanently deleted for two years. All of my work gone.

And it was because I had made national news three times. The first was the Million Maga March. We had millions of Americans singing the Star-Spangled Banner in unison. Gorgeous moment. Donald Trump retweeted it. Twitter deleted my entire reporting career alongside the entirety of my BLM riot reporting from the summer of rage in 2020. And that's so crazy, too, because there were not that many reports. out there. I mean, I think it picked up momentum. There were some reporters out there,

but especially as a woman to be out there on the ground. It was a little scary. It's scary. And that's a lot of hours of your life. And so that's crazy that you were censored in that way. Yeah. And I think, too, we'll get into the Leah Thomas store here in a second. But the craziest thing about the first initial censorship was there were a lot of national media outlets who would write articles and they would embed the video. so people could say, hey, here's the video to go along with the article.

You know, here's the backup evidence of what we're talking about. So when white Antifa members shut down a black man from being able to drive to work because they were in the street fighting for black lives, the news articles came out. But once the Twitter account was deleted, so was that footage. So was the footage of the fiery but mostly peaceful protests that the media was lying to us about for the entirety of the year. So that happened. I made another Twitter account. So this was athletes who spoke out against Leah Thomas.

her name was Rose Pouch. She was a Virginia Tech swimmer. I think she was a freshman at the time. She was competing, and she was so upset because it was her teammate that was kicked out of the finals in the NCAA Women's Swimming Championship by Leah Thomas. She was a senior. It was her last opportunity to try to go for the gold, and her spot was taken by Leah Thomas. Her teammate was extremely upset, and parents at that event were telling me, the NCAA officials

said, do not speak to media. Do not say Leah Thomas' name in the law. but this was a very controversial subject. Now, same thing. You had the entire media saying, this is so progressive, this is incredible. Leah Thomas is great. But the story was very different on the ground.

And so her clip garnered millions of views over the weekend because people were like, this young girl is so brave. Tucker Carlson picked up her story. Within two days, Twitter took down her voice, took down the fact that she spoke out against Leah Thomas swimming against biological women, and Twitter silenced her voice. I think that was one of my favorite stories to cover because this young girl was so brave.

Because, again, this was really before we were, where we're at now, where we have more women coming out and saying, this is wrong. This is at the forefront. And she was like, I'm risking my entire swimming career. She really was. I remember I was there and I saw you filming. I don't know if it was in the same interview with this girl. But I saw you and I remember seeing some girl run out of the building crying. And it was a very weird atmosphere at that meet.

Yeah. Because you try and talk to parents. And I remember one dad and I talked and he kind of wanted to go around the corner so no one saw him talking because... So much apprehension. Yeah. And then, but then he's telling me, oh, everyone's upset. All these parents don't want this. And to clarify, like, Leah Thomas is a biological man that identifies as a woman.

So it's a man racing girls. And it was weird. I don't think there were that many other press there, right? I mean, I didn't see a lot of other people I knew. You know, I was shocked. I mean, maybe not even shocked. but that's exactly what it was, right? It was independent media like us being on the ground

and then simply filming the race before anyone else posting it on Twitter and then other bigger outlets trying to take the story from that and be like, oh, this is what was happening on the ground. Right. Well, simultaneously not talking to any of the parents or the women competing.

Yes. Yes. So, I mean, we all saw the pictures come out as well and I'd never been to a swim meet before. And I was kind of confused, right? Because all the girls came out and because they all have their caps and swimsuits on, they look similar. I knew.

Except for one. Yeah, I knew when when Leah Thomas came out, I was like, oh, because I was like, oh, no, what if I can't tell? I could tell immediately. I was up there in the bleachers, like, what the? Yeah, it was shocking. Yeah, it was really disturbing. And I ended up, I was in my, on Instagram, because I knew that's where all these girls are. I was messaging all of them on Instagram.

And I ended up getting a hold of Riley Gaines, and she said, I'll talk to you after the meet. And then we talked, and that's when she first came out and shared her story. So that's one of my crowning, crowning, crowning professional achievement. No, getting this story before anyone. No, you got it first. So that was also, that's a very pivotal day, I think, for, for, for, I guess a weekend for the movement to protect women's sports and the integrity of women's spaces. So thank you for your reporting. I know I was there and I was like, dang it.

I wish I got that video. No, I'm so happy too because it's great whenever I'm like, okay, I've been on the ground so much. I can go on your Twitter account and I'm like, Mary's got it. I'm gone. Let me take a weekend off. No, no, no. We actually saw you down at the border. Tim Kennedy and I, you were doing amazing reporting down there. Every time there's a fire or fight, Saab is there.

So follow her. Where can people find you? You guys can follow me on YouTube at Sav Says. On Twitter, at Sav underscore says. I love plugging my Twitter now because it was gone for so many years. I know. It's just been incredible. And I think, too, it's just the organic growth that has come with me being back on

with how hungry people are for the truth to see for themselves, right? what's going on without the media even giving them a spin, but just being like, hey, here's the video. You guys can do what you want with it. Make whatever assumption you want out of the video. It's so important. It's so important. And I think also in the culture that we live in, people don't want to be told what to think. They want to see it themselves and decide how they feel about it. And that's why what you do is so important. So thank you. Well, thank you. It was awesome being on here with you. And I'm sure I'll see you out in the field again soon. I'm sure you will. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you.

for listening to my interview with Savannah Hernandez. If you haven't gotten a chance, make sure you subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by leaving a five-star rating and review. We read all your feedback. Thanks again for listening. Have a great Monday, and we'll be back with you all this afternoon for top news. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob, Rob Luey, and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop.

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