Capital Pride: A Gay Jew's Feels - Hopeful, But Lowkey Anxious 🏳️🌈✡️😬
Wilczynski: For a gay Jew, Capital Pride prompts hope and anxiety. Ottawa's Capital Pride is coming up, and this gay Jewish writer is feeling all the feels - hyped, but also kinda sus. Last year's drama over the Israel-Hamas conflict left some peeps feeling iced out. Now, they're tryna rebuild trust
TL:DR
Ottawa's Capital Pride is coming up, and this gay Jewish writer is feeling all the feels - hyped, but also kinda sus. Last year's drama over the Israel-Hamas conflict left some peeps feeling iced out. Now, they're tryna rebuild trust, but it's still a whole mood. Pride is supposed to be a protest, but can everyone vibe together? 🤔
The Deets
Okay, so Ottawa's about to turn up for Capital Pride, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows for everyone. One writer, who's a gay Jew, is keeping it 100 about feeling both hopeful and anxious. Like, can you even?
Last year was kinda a mess, tbh. There was some beef over Capital Pride's stance on the Israel-Hamas situation, and it lowkey made the Jewish community feel unsafe and unwelcome. Some orgs even boycotted, which is a major L for inclusivity. People be asking questions, like what is going on?
Now, they're tryna make things right, hosting meetups and stuff to rebuild bridges. But the writer's still got some feels. Pride is supposed to be a protest, right? Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights when they're getting rolled back in places like Hungary and Russia, and with all that anti-LGBTQ+ stuff happening in Uganda and threats to marriage equality in the US. It’s a lot!
They even shared some personal tea, like working with Fierte Montreal and seeing Jewish groups get straight-up harassed at the Montreal Pride parade. Not cool, fam. And with all the hate Zionist Jews are catching (which, BTW, is most of Canadian Jewry), it's making queer Jews feel extra vulnerable.
The big question is: where can queer Jews just be themselves, ya know? They're hoping Capital Pride can be a safe space for everyone - Indigenous peeps, Black peeps, Palestinian peeps, Lebanese peeps, Ukrainian peeps, Jewish peeps - without gatekeeping based on international politics. Can't we all just get along?
Abbreviations Glossary
| Abbreviation | Full Form |
|---|---|
| Feels | Emotions, feelings. |
| Lowkey | Sort of, slightly, understated. |
| Sus | Suspicious. |
| Iced out | Excluded, left out. |
| Keeping it 100 | Being honest, real. |
| Can you even? | Expressing disbelief or incredulity. |
| TBH | To be honest. |
| Beef | Conflict, disagreement. |
| Major L | Big loss. |
| Not Cool, Fam | Expressing disapproval. |
| Tea | Gossip. |