Dancing in hot-pink shirts that declared “Proud & Jewish,” waving rainbow flags with Stars of David and carrying signs celebrating queer Jewish identity, a large Jewish contingent celebrated at San Francisco’s Pride Parade with bold, joyful ruach.
Sunday’s parade drew the largest Jewish contingent ever, according to the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area.
Some 350 people from 28 Jewish organizations marched with the “Proud & Jewish” contingent, JCRC said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is Jewish, wore a rainbow wristband and shed his suit jacket as he walked along the route (though not with the Jewish community contingent) greeting parade-goers with fist-bumps and waves.
Surrounding the Jewish contingent and float were a half-dozen San Francisco police officers on bicycles. It was the only contingent in the massive parade with visible security. The float was co-sponsored by JCRC, JCCSF, Keshet, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, A Wider Bridge and the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
“We had the full cooperation and partnership of SFPD. They understood the heightened security environment for the Jewish community. They were great partners,” Tye Gregory, CEO of JCRC, told J. on Monday.
“As people are thinking about taking off their kippah or mezuzah or hiding their Magen David necklace, we have to take these lessons from the LGBTQ community that hiding doesn’t work in our favor, ever,” said Gregory, who is gay. “‘Proud & Jewish’ is sort of a nod to that.”
Rabbi Eliana Kayelle, the Bay Area education and training manager for Keshet, a national organization seeking full equality for LGBTQ+ Jews and families in Jewish life, joined the “Proud & Jewish” float.
“As trans, nonbinary, and intersex people are under attack, it was incredibly meaningful to gather as LGBTQ+ Jews in protest, in ritual, and in celebration,” Kayelle said Monday in an email to J. “Pride meant coming together as our full authentic selves and to celebrate the diversity of identities, perspectives, and lived experiences that make up our LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities.”
Gregory, who rode atop the float, noted that it was decked out in pink, baby blue and white, the colors of the transgender Pride flag, to show solidarity with the trans community as it faces “awful headwinds” from the federal government.
On Friday evening, Jewish organizations also gathered at Dolores Park in S.F. to celebrate Shabbat ahead of the annual Trans March.
Michael Mishali, 35, attended Sunday’s parade with friends. It was his second time at SF Pride, and his first since coming out as gay. Mishali is the Bay Area director of community engagement for Honeymoon Israel, a national group with regional chapters that leads trips to Israel for young couples with at least one Jewish partner.
When the Jewish contingent’s float came into view, he braced himself for the possibility of boos from the crowd, or a lull in the applause, he told J.
Instead, the “Proud & Jewish” group was celebrated with the same reception of loud cheers as any float, he said.
“It was one of the magical moments of Pride,” he said. “The Jewish and queer contingent — they were applauded even though so many people in the audience would not be supportive in other settings. At Pride, everyone could be applauded for who they were.”
More photos by staff photographer Aaron Levy-Wolins
The Jewish community contingent proudly marches, dances and rolls its way along Market Street on a beautiful day with clear skies.
Wearing hot-pink “Proud & Jewish” T-shirts and even temporary tattoos, participants celebrate all things LGBTQ+ and all things Jewish.
Marchers make an extra effort to let trans people know the Jewish community has their backs.
The San Francisco Love Tours van is an annual favorite in the Jewish contingent.
Matt Lacoff (center), a trans man who hopes to become a rabbi, rides on the Jewish community float while holding a trans flag.
An onlooker holds a placard from the Jewish LGBTQ+ organization A Wider Bridge, which has the colors of the Progress Pride flag and a Star of David.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie bumps fists and shakes hands along the route.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, who is gay, is among the Jewish elected officials at the parade. He carries a sign that reads “ICE out of SF,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Participants with pro-Palestinian contingents, including this one for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, join Sunday’s parade.
Palestine Contingent marchers walk past Congregation Sha’ar Zahav during the Trans March in San Francisco on Friday.
A person wears wings with the colors of the trans flag colors during the Pride Shabbat ritual and picnic hosted by Congregation Sha’ar Zahav and Kehilla Community Synagogue at Dolores Park on Friday.