In the Venn diagram of American voters, there is clearly some overlap between white evangelicals and white supremacists, and so it maybe shouldn't be shocking that Saturday's annual Walk for Life in San Francisco drew some neo-Nazi support.
That Walk for Life march, which every January draws a slew of Catholics, evangelicals, and anti-abortion zealots from the outer reaches of California and beyond to think they're making some impact on the hearts and minds of pro-choice San Francisco, happened despite some inclement weather on Saturday.
The you-must-carry-your-pregnancy-to-term set gathered for a rally in Civic Center Saturday morning before marching down Market Street in the afternoon. And as BrokeAss Stuart reports, the event attracted several members of the Goyim Defense League (GDL) — an antisemitic group founded a few years ago in Petaluma whose name is a riff on the Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League.
One member of the group marched wearing red suspenders, which have become a symbolic uniform of the neo-Nazi cause, and another wore a t-shirt that said "Jews Rape Kids." A third can be seen on video making a Nazi salute amid the crowd.
The Anti-Defamation League describes the Goyim Defense League as "a small network of virulently antisemitic provocateurs led by Jon Minadeo II who moved from Petaluma, California to Florida in December 2022." The group apparently "casts aspersions on Jews and spreads antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories," and "engages in a range of antisemitic stunts to troll or otherwise harass Jews, and to draw attention to themselves."
Participating in Saturday's anti-abortion march appears to fall in the latter category of activities, but the ADL notes that the GDL has previously circulated a flier with the heading "Every Aspect of Abortion Is Jewish." (Other fliers say things like "Every Aspect of Disney Is Jewish," and "Every Aspect of the Trump Campaign Is Jewish," so, notably, they are anti-Trump because he is pro-Israel.)
The TikTok user @ACreativeQueer posted the video above, with narration, calling on people to try to publicly identify the GDL members.
The Instagram account @bayarealoveletter posted the image below to their stories, showing the same individuals passing out their fliers outside a BART entrance on mid-Market.
These fliers have gotten the group in trouble before.
As Rolling Stone reports, Minadeo was thrown in jail in Palm Beach County in November, after being sentenced to 30 days for littering — in connection with a March arrest in which he was distributing fliers out of the back of a U-Haul.
And maybe the Walk for Life people should be a little better about policing who takes part in their events — and what t-shirts they wear. It's hardly a "prayerful" event when you've got a marcher with a shirt that says "Jews Rape Kids," and others doing Nazi salutes.
Previously: Anti-Abortion Activists to March In San Francisco Saturday, and They're Trying to Pray the Rain Away