San Diego’s Jewish community tried to focus on the positive in its separate Pride event Saturday in University City.
Roughly 1,200 people partied in Mandell Weiss Eastgate Park with DJs playing dance music, plenty of games — like unicorn-themed jumping gyms —and lots of food, from tacos to pastrami sandwiches.
Members of the Jewish LGBTQ+ community pulled out of the main Pride event because of the decision of organizers to select singer Kehlani as the headliner. The R&B singer is a vocal critic of the Israel war in Gaza and, in a recent music video, danced in front of Palestinian flags and text on screen reads “Long Live the Intifada.”
“We don’t want to focus on that,” said Hanz Enyeart, of the J Cuties group. “This is a place of celebration and love.”
Enyeart said the event was a chance for members of the Jewish LGBTQ+ community to be in a safe space, avoid antisemitism and have a good time. He said he wanted people to be able to celebrate all parts of their identity.
“I am 100% gay and 100% Jewish,” Enyeart said.
More than 30 organizations came together for the event, called JPride, and corporate sponsors included the San Diego Gulls and Jamul Casino. Politicians who decided to sit out the main Pride event this year came to JPride to give speeches and meet with constituents.
“Thank you for being a bulwark against hate and discrimination in our community,” said Mayor Todd Gloria. “We will be this great community when we include more people into it.”
He was joined by Toni Atkins, longtime San Diego politician and candidate for governor, Assembly member Chris Ward and others.
Security was tight at JPride with no bags allowed in and about a dozen security guards.
Many attendees of the event said they were trying to stay positive but were still resentful they even had to have a separate event. Drag performer Aunt Shirley, who is Jewish and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said she viewed Kehlani performing as a sign she wouldn’t be welcome.
“I don’t want to be anywhere where I’m not wanted,” she said, wearing a green dress and several pearl necklaces.
San Diego Pride stuck with its choice to keep Kehlani as a headliner, despite high-profile cancellations in New York’s Central Park, Cornell University and the singer dropped out of a San Francisco Pride festival last month.
Kehlani, who is nonbinary, has said they are not antisemitic but against the Israel government’s actions in Gaza. It still wasn’t enough for many at JPride. It was unclear at this point if the Jewish groups would rejoin the main Pride festival or continue on with their own festival next year.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Jonathan Cane, of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. “Everyone here has mixed emotions.”
On the surface, it sure looked like people were having a good time. Many kids were at a rainbow Challah bread station, in a ball kicking area called the “Lady Gaga Pit,” and people danced near the main stage adorned with plenty of rainbow themed accents, including a heart cutout with the Star of David in the middle.
Kehlani is expected to take the stage around 8:50 p.m. in Balboa Park and perform for an hour.