First J Pride fest provides space for queer Jewish people after rift with SD Pride

With San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria behind her, Lawrence Family JCC CEO Betzy Lynch speaks from the DJ booth at the first annual JPride Festival in La Jolla Saturday. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego) About 500 people showed up with brio for the first J Pride Festival, held Saturday at Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park. According to Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center CEO Betzy Lynch, J Pride is a place where attendees who are members of the Jewish and queer communities can be wholly themselves. “No one should be asked to bifurcate their identity in order to feel safe somewhere,” Lynch said. According to Lynch, even in a historically inclusive space like San Diego Pride — and in the world generally — “things are changing” for the Jewish community. “It’s our responsibility to help people reimagine what it is to be a shared society,” Lynch said. Mayor Todd Gloria joined Toni Atkins, Tasha Boerner, Chris Ward and other political dignitaries on the DJ stage midway through the festival. Ward, a member of the state Assembly, was perhaps the only high-profile elected official who appeared at both J Pride and the San Diego Pride Parade, where attendance appeared as robust as ever on Saturday. Many, like Gloria, pulled out of San Diego Pride events over the choice of the singer Kehlani as a headliner for this year’s San Diego Pride Festival. The fest, at Balboa Park, follows the morning Pride Parade. They turned to J Pride once the alternative event was announced. Gloria said that for him as the mayor of San Diego, it’s critical “that people understand they are welcome here.” “For many in this audience, there are some of you that felt like there (were) messages recently that say quite the opposite,” he said. “I want to say here clearly — and very directly — we will not be America’s Finest City without our Jewish community and without our LGBT community.” The crowd as San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria spoke at the first JPride Festival in La Jolla Saturday. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego) Gloria thanked attendees. “Thank you for being a bulwark against hate and discrimination,” he said. A media representative for the Lawrence Family JCC said the organization’s top priority at the event was safety; private security hired by the JCC cooperated with San Diego police, who cased the park with bomb sniffing dogs ahead of time. Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park, the Lawrence Family JCC and a San Diego Police Department division share a city block. The first JPride Festival in La Jolla Saturday. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego) J Pride did not publicly announce the location of the event and only shared it with attendees after they RSVP’d. People were allowed to bring water bottles and small, clear bags into the event, and were subject to waves of metal-detecting wands upon entry. Amidst booths staffed by restaurants and local Jewish organizations, Jamul Casino gave out bucket hats and backpacks next to a rainbow display glittering in the sun. The casino’s Director of Advertising Katheirne Hoppe said J Pride felt like a party, and that the casino wanted a way to support the queer community after pulling out of the larger Pride Parade due to antisemetism concerns connected to Kehlani. “We knew this was going on and we had the money allocated for the community, so we wanted to give it to someone where it would make a difference,” Hoppe said. Jamul Casino’s booth at the first annual JPride Festival in La Jolla Saturday. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego) Janice Weinstein, a lesbian and a member of Chavurat Shir Ha-Yam, an egalitarian Jewish renewal community in San Diego, said it was powerful to feel welcomed by the larger Jewish community at J Pride. According to Weinstein, San Diego Pride did not live up to their values by embracing Kehlani. “Basically, this year, they’re saying all are welcome here — if you want to align yourself with some very vicious rhetoric about Israel, and the Jewish people,” Weinstein said. Kehlani has made comments perceived by some as antisemetic while advocating for Palestinians. In one case the performer ended a livestream by saying “It’s f— Israel, its f— Zionism, and it’s also f–k a lot of y’all too.” Rabbi Gabi Arad of the Jewish Collaborative of San Diego in Carlsbad set up karaoke at the organization’s booth at J Pride. According to Arad, kids in the Jewish Collaborative wanted karaoke to be their booth’s attraction. “For them, they want to sing out, they’re very into musical theater, and you know, just expressing themselves,” she said. For Arad, J Pride is for the kids — particularly queer youth. “We wanted to show them that we love them, and if they don’t feel safe or accepted in other spaces, we are going to provide that space for them,” Arad said. “And that’s the vibe I’m feeling here today.”