SACRAMENTO, Calif —
The annual Sacramento Pride March and Festival returns this weekend to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, but not everyone is feeling festive.
Some members of the LGBTQIA+ community are boycotting the Sacramento Pride events and are instead offering an alternative space to grieve violence happening around the world.
A coalition called Sacramento Queers 4 Palestine is bringing attention to the ongoing atrocities in Palestine, Sudan, Congo and Haiti with a vigil.
For Rowen Rayneharte, a member of Sacramento Queers 4 Palestine, the bottom line is it feels wrong to celebrate Pride Month when violence is happening.
“We have the most anti-trans laws happening right now. Trans people are being murdered as well and then we’ve got the genocide in Gaza,” said Rayneharte. “I can’t celebrate right now. All my Palestinian friends are grieving because they’ve lost some people."
Experts say Israel's military campaign in Gaza is one of the most destructive conflicts in the 21st century. Israel’s monthslong war with Hamas in the Gaza strip is a response to the militant group’s October 7 attack that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis, the deadliest in the country’s history.
Amid the high civilian casualties in Gaza with over 36,000 people killed by Israel, other countries are supporting South Africa’s case to the United Nations accusing Israel of committing war crimes and genocide against Palestinians.
For these reasons, the Sacramento group will host a vigil at the mural in Southside Park to honor queer and trans “siblings” who’ve been “martyred” in Gaza and internationally. The Sacramento Pride march and parade will take place at the park concurrently.
A skeptic of Pride Month because of rainbow capitalism, which is the commercialization and commodification of LGBTQ movements, Raeda Zarzour — a queer, Palestinian Muslim — believes redirecting energy is especially important right now.
“We should acknowledge when people are just placating our emotions and trying to give us something to dismiss us and neutralize us to the issues of other people,” said Zarzour. “We really want this space to be healing for people who don’t have the want to celebrate in a time right now where our money and our income is being used to genocide people and oppress other queer people.”
The United States has sent more military and foreign aid to Israel than any other country.
A recent report from Amnesty International USA found the U.S. supplied weapons to Israel that have been used against Palestinian civilians violating international humanitarian and human rights law. This week, an Israeli attack on a UN school complex in central Gaza left at least 40 dead; experts say U.S. munition was used in the deadly strike.
“A lot of them are just innocent civilian women and children. And I think that anyone who has a heart, if you think about it, if it was your family, if it was your mom, if it was your child, that wouldn’t be a war casualty, that would be overwhelming. And so, I’m here for that,” said Rayneharte.
The vigil is inspired by the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, also called the Stonewall riots, a series of events between the police and LGBTQ+ protests stretching over six days, according to the Library of Congress. Prompted by police raiding a gay bar, the uprisings were against police and state brutality, harassment and the barriers the community faced.
This June marks 55 years since the Stonewall Uprising, something not lost on the organizers.
“We are holding No Pride in Genocide really to remember that the source of Pride is in rioting for our rights and that our liberation around the entire globe is unified,” said Zarzour.
Raeda believes there’s strength in unification and liberation comes from recognizing one’s similarities and fighting injustices together.
The Sacramento LGBTQ Center, the organizers of the official Pride festivities, provided ABC10 with the following statement from their CEO, David Heitstuman, about the organized vigil:
“We respect the right of community members to express their views regarding the tragic loss of life due to conflicts around the world as they plan alternative events to the official Pride Festival. Sacramento Pride has a rich history of activism that started in the wake of Stonewall more than 50 years ago that has evolved to be the largest and inclusive celebration of activism and our diverse LGBTQ+ community culture in the Sacramento region. A core value of our mission to creating a region where all LGBTQ+ people can thrive is advocacy for equity and justice and we invite community members and groups who want their voice to be heard to join us in the Pride March on Sunday as an opportunity to raise awareness and promote dialogue regarding these important issues.”
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Pride Month kicks off with several events in Northern California
