As a co-founder of San Diego Pride and a lifelong advocate for the dignity and safety of every member of our community, I write today with both deep pride in what we have built together and profound concern about the direction we are heading.
Within hours of what German government authorities announced was an Islamic extremist attack on Berlin Pride, San Diego Pride rightfully issued a statement of solidarity. That swift response showed that San Diego Pride understands the urgency of protecting our community from targeted hate.
That is precisely why the silence that followed the antisemitic and hateful incidents at this year’s San Diego Pride parade and festival is so deeply troubling. Weeks have passed, and Pride leadership has yet to issue a single public statement of concern, acknowledgment or commitment to action for the Jewish LGBTQ+ members of our community, and their non-Jewish friends, who were targeted.
Jewish LGBTQA+ leaders, activists and families have made it unequivocally clear: they no longer feel safe at San Diego Pride. During this year’s event, a Jewish LGBTQ+ participant at the Festival was called “Baby Killers” by a featured artist. Peaceful participants at the parade carrying signs of Queer Jewish Love were called “genociders” and subjected to other antisemitic verbal attacks and hate speech. Mayor Gloria was also targeted with these attacks.
Pride also permitted a contingent to march with a large banner labeling the Israeli flag “TERRORIST,” deliberately embedding the Star of David into the word itself. Weaponizing a sacred religious symbol to dehumanize and collectively blame an entire people for the action of a foreign government is antisemitism, plain and simple.
That any of this occurred in public, at a community celebration meant to affirm the dignity of all people, is unconscionable.
I must also ask difficult questions of Pride leadership directly: Why were parade contingents permitted to march carrying antisemitic and hateful banners? Why was the National Anthem once again excluded from the Stonewall rally? Why was a group carrying an oversized anti-police effigy in an officer’s uniform again permitted to roam the parade route unchallenged? Many LGBTQ veterans told me how concerned they were to see more Palestinian flags being displayed in parade contingents than American flags.
These are not rhetorical questions. After last year’s boycott by multiple religious groups in response to Pride’s booking of a nationally known antisemitic performer, Pride officials met with Jewish leaders and made commitments earlier this year that were never made public or implemented. There was no public apology. The pattern of avoidance must end.
As a person of color, I can say without hesitation: if the Black or Brown community had experienced what the Jewish community experienced at this year’s Pride, statements and action would have been immediate. Silence, in the face of antisemitism, is not neutrality. It is complicity.
There is also a legal and ethical obligation that Pride cannot ignore. As a recipient of the City of San Diego’s Creative Communities San Diego grant, San Diego Pride operates under anti-discrimination conditions tied to public funding. Targeted harassment and discrimination against Jewish community members at a Pride-sponsored event are not consistent with those grant obligations.
Therefore, I call upon San Diego Pride to take the following actions:
- Issue a formal public apology to the LGBTQA+ Jewish community of San Diego for the antisemitic and hateful incidents many were subjected to at this year’s parade and festival.
- Prohibit parade contingents from carrying banners or displays that express hate, demean or attack any community, and establish clear enforcement mechanisms for this policy going forward.
- Conduct a formal investigation into all reported incidents of antisemitism and harassment that occurred at this year’s Pride parade and festival, consistent with its obligations as a recipient of the City of San Diego’s Creative Communities San Diego grant.
- Require mandatory antisemitism training for all Pride staff, volunteers and featured artists prior to participation in any Pride-sanctioned event, to ensure that every person acting under the banner of San Diego Pride understands what antisemitism is, how it manifests and why it has no place in our community.
- Establish a Community Advisory Committee that includes Jewish LGBTQA+ leaders and representatives from all communities to provide ongoing guidance and accountability to Pride leadership.
- Convene a community-wide town hall to hear directly from those affected, gather community input and demonstrate a genuine commitment to making San Diego Pride a safe and inclusive space for every member of our community.
San Diego Pride was built on the principle that no one in our community should be made to feel unsafe, unwelcome or less than. That principle must apply to our Jewish community members without exception, without delay and without conditions.
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Nicole Murray Ramirez co-founded San Diego Pride in 1974 and is the President of the San Diego LGBTQ Historic Task Force.