The bodies of Christ came out for stiff competition at the annual Easter Sunday Hunky Jesus Competition, with a Beyonce-inspired winner, and baby you can see his halo plus many of the other messier messiahs in these semi-NSFW photos.
Sunday’s 46th annual Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Easter in the Park party did not have the most Jesuses ever admitted in the Hunky Jesus Contest — that distinction goes to the 2023 contest, at which there were more than 50 Jesuses. But there were so many Jesuses this year that the drag nun Sisters were turning them away, and capped the competition at 40 hunky competitors.
And the overall crowd in Dolores Park felt bigger than ever too, a jam-packed situation where it was impossible to find your friends. But still a beautiful Sunday to enjoy, with many in the crowd sipping this Laughing Monk Brewing Co. Hunky Jesus Blood Orange Pale Ale that is apparently now a thing.
This year’s theme was “No Easter Without the T,” an unapologetic celebration of the trans community, with the show co-hosted by Honey Mahogany and Alex U. Inn, the Ladies of Asia SF putting on a stunning performance of Wicked’s “Defying Gravity,” and of course all of this on the high holy holiday of 4/20.
“We all feel high just looking at you,” Honey Mahogany told the crowd.
But the highest son of the Most High God was the 2025 Hunky Jesus Contest winner Cowboy Carter Jesus, portrayed by a self-described “disco cowboy” Wild West, and putting a glorious LGBTQ+ take on the famed cover of Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album.
“I grew up on a farm in east Tennessee, my dad and grandfather are both Southern Baptist ministers,” Wild West told SFist after his win. “I’ve been so inspired by Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album, the reclamation of the genre is what really inspired me. I grew up in the church, and the message of Christianity that I was taught to believe is not necessarily that message of Christianity that is being broadcast by Christian nationalists.”
“As Beyonce has tried to reclaim a genre from its roots, I want to reclaim the message of Christianity today,” he said. “Which is that Christ is about loving your neighbor.”
And yes, this man has a Texas longhorn tattooed on his belly.
But how does a disco mirror ball-covered bison even come into existence? “I purchased the bison on Facebook Marketplace,” Wild West explained. “It was brown and very sad-looking. I had somebody ship it up from Fresno.” The mirrorball bedazzling work was done by a team of six people at the Parade Guys, who build so many of the floats that you see at SF’s parades.
We crossed many more Jesuses from Sunday's contest, including previous winner Funky Jesus, whose cross was a functioning electric guitar.
A crowd-favorite runner up was Fuck Donald Trump Jesus, a Jesus who’d rigged up Donald Trump attached to his body in such a way that the Jesus could perform a vulgar sex act on Trump.
And no one had to create any loaves or fishes thanks to Jesus Crust, seen above. “We had some good bread puns ‘Jesus Crust,’ ‘Happy Yeaster,’ ‘He is Risen,’ all that,” Jesus Crust told us.
We also had DEI Jesus trailblazing in a traditionally male-dominated competition.
And watch out for the glare from DOJE Jesus (Department of Jesus Energy), a riff on Elon Musk’s DOGE chicanery, whose silver cross was a giant Tesla logo. “We did this in the last 12 hours, it all came together,” DOJE Jesus said of he and his husband’s handiwork. “We just wanted folks to have a good laugh, but also make a statement at the same time.”
Here is your Foxy Mary contest winner Dollar Store Candle Mary, who waxed the competition. But there was a stiff and potent cocktail-themed challenge from Bloody Mary, seen below and celebrating her 40th birthday, and Sister Roma saying onstage that she was “looking like a snack at 40.”
“I woke up this morning having no idea what we were doing,” ‘Bloody Mary’ Amy Robish told us, saying that her brother had secretly prepared her birthday outfit from pool noodles and twine. “They gave me the outfit and said ‘Guess what we're doing today.’”
The Bonnet Competition was won by the highly anatomically correct Cunty Bonnet, whose bonnet was so large it covered, well, other parts of her body too. “I constructed it with pool noodles and chicken wire and a lot of velvet fabric,” creator Tamara Schane explained. “Everyone is searching for Easter bonnets and wanting to look for Easter eggs. I wanted someone to find my special egg.”
While Cunty Bonnet won, there were as always many other outstanding entries in the Bonnet Competitions.
And some bonnet-masters who didn’t even compete, they just walked around and basked in the attention all day.
Yes it was 4/20, but other than a few marijuana-themed Jesus entries, there was no huge organized 4/20 smokeout, and smoking in the park was officially discouraged. We did see one Jesus walking around with a sign that advertised he was selling “Mushrooms, Pre-Rolls, Ecstasy.” But it was a clean and organized event, with a lot of volunteer ambassadors walking the crowd and keeping the mayhem to a minimum.
But there was indeed more mayhem, as you can see in a bunch more pictures below.
Top Image: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. via Facebook
