A queer- and trans-led alternate march, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, is planned for Sunday in the Castro, dubbed 'No Pride in Genocide.'
Alternative protests and marches are not new to Pride Sunday, and this year, there will be one focused on the war in Gaza. It will start at 1 pm at Church and Market streets. It's called 'No Pride in Genocide,' and it follows events of the same name that took place in March.
The name Queer & Trans March for Palestinian Liberation also seems to have been circulated as well.
The march is being led by the Brass Liberation Orcestra, Jewish Voice for Peace, and QUIT!
As Bay Area-based Palestinian African trans drag artist Mama Ganuush, who is helping organize the march, told Prism this week, "I don’t feel safe, and I don’t feel proud to walk in Pride as a Palestinian. Me walking in Pride means normalizing Pride as a true protest, which this Pride is not."
Mx. Yaffa, a trans Palestinian poet and activist and executive director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, goes even further, telling Prism, "The biggest threat to my existence right now in the Bay Area as a queer and trans Palestinian is not cis, straight right-wing leaders, it’s actually Pride councils. Until that is accounted for, we can’t actually be on the same page because you’ve been investing in my genocide essentially for decades, and you haven’t even stopped."
Organizers of SF Pride are taking this in stride, saying that they support everyone expressing themselves on Pride.
"It’s a responsibility we take very seriously to uplift and affirm marginalized people. We respect everyone’s right to have a voice," says Nguyen Pham, the president of SF Pride's board, speaking to the Chronicle.
Of the main SF Pride Parade, Pham tells the paper, "We are laser-focused on joy this year – we are taking an affirmative stance against all the hate coming at our people."
Mama Ganuush also spoke to the Chronicle about the pro-Palestinian march, referring to the increasingly corporate nature of the Pride Parade, and saying, "We’re providing a space for queer folks to truly express themselves and express their need for liberation, versus the SF Pride march that is pretty much sponsored by companies like U.S. Bank and Amazon. The action on Sunday is to bring back Pride to its roots, as a protest."
Another alternative to the Pride Parade, the People's March, happened on Pride Sunday the past couple of years, but this year was moved to the previous weekend, and already happened on Polk Street last Sunday.
Top image: A protest group holds up a flag that says "we stand with queer Palestinians" during Bangkok Pride on June 01, 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)
