\u201cWe don\u2019t want to focus on that,\u201d said Hanz Enyeart, of the J Cuties group. \u201cThis is a place of celebration and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am 100% gay and 100% Jewish,\u201d Enyeart said.<\/p>\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-J-PRIDE-0719-5.jpg\")
Michelle Jacobson, left, and Liz Dennett dance at The J Pride Festival on Saturday. (Zo\u00eb Meyers \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
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 annual San Diego Pride festival this year came to JPride to give speeches and meet with constituents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for being a bulwark against hate and discrimination in our community,\u201d said Mayor Todd Gloria. \u201cWe will be this great community when we include more people into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was joined by Toni Atkins, a longtime San Diego politician and candidate for governor, Assemblymember Chris Ward and others.<\/p>\n
![\"Assemblymember](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-J-PRIDE-0719-9.jpg\")
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner calls other elected officials to the stage at The J Pride Festival. (Zo\u00eb Meyers \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Security was tight at JPride with no bags allowed in and about a dozen security guards.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t be welcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be anywhere where I\u2019m not wanted,\u201d she said, wearing a green dress and several pearl necklaces.<\/p>\n
San Diego Pride stuck with its choice to keep Kehlani as a headliner, despite high-profile cancellations in New York\u2019s Central Park<\/a> and Cornell University,<\/a> and the singer dropping out of a San Francisco Pride<\/a> festival last month.<\/p>\n Kehlani, who is nonbinary, has said they are not antisemitic but against the Israeli government\u2019s actions in Gaza. It still wasn\u2019t enough for many at JPride. It was unclear at this point if the Jewish groups would rejoin the San Diego Pride festival or continue on with their own festival next year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet,\u201d said Jonathan Cane, of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. \u201cEveryone here has mixed emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n On the surface, it sure looked like people were having a good time. Many kids were at a rainbow challah bread station and in a ball kicking area called the \u201cLady Gaga Pit,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Kehlani is expected to take the stage around 8:50 p.m. in Balboa Park and perform for an hour.<\/p>\n Originally Published: July 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego\u2019s Jewish community tried to focus on the positive in its separate Pride event Saturday in University…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,171,1370,3549,7264,1072,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-76845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114883079909300680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Attendees](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-J-PRIDE-0719-7.jpg\")
Attendees of The J Pride Festival use stencils to decorate fans and tote bags on Saturday. (Zo\u00eb Meyers \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n