It is certainly is a scary time: increasing attacks on the freedoms of LGBTQ+ people, especially for our trans, nonbinary, and intersex siblings; intensifying antisemitism; attacks on local immigrant communities and marginalized populations; a dismantling of our democratic systems.

And yet, it is dafka (precisely) because of these scary times that I feel myself reaching for community, that it is all the more important to gather and to be in solidarity with one another. We know this deeply from decades of work building bridges at Keshet.

 When our impulse is to retreat and retract, we reach out to our partners and allies, because we need each other. When our tendency is to be quiet, we sing and chant. When our instinct is to shy away, we choose to stand together—protected, resilient, and joyful.

During Pride Month, which for many is celebrated in June, we will march, protest, parade, sing, pray, dance, teach, learn, and act—literally loud and immensely proud—for Jewish LGBTQ+ rights and belonging. 

As you and your communities make plans for Pride, we at Keshet are offering you pathways to Jewishly and queerly celebrating and marking this season of joy, resilience, defiance, and resistance:

Honor the complexity of Pride by sharing both the challenges and the joys. This year is not all rainbows and glitter. But we don’t want our community to be demoralized—we want to give them a sense of hope and remind them of the community that embraces them for all they are. Here are some tips for language to use this year when talking about Pride: 

• Keshet has been using language like “joy and resistance,” “strength and resilience,” and “celebration and protest.” We encourage you to do the same! Using dualities like these help bring to the surface the reality that being LGBTQ+ can feel really good and really hard at times. Pushing the hard stuff under the rug does not do the LGBTQ+ community justice; instead, name both to highlight and honor the humanity of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Name the reality: the federal government is relentlessly attacking LGBTQ+ access to safety, to healthcare, to dignity. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed or passed in 2025 alone, and there are concrete actions both big and small that every person can do: listen to LGBTQ+ people; check in on your LGBTQ+ loved ones; and doing your own education about the LGBTQ+ community are three ideas.
• Share your story! Your personal narrative, story, and connection to LGBTQ+ rights is more powerful than any talking point. Share with your community about why equality matters to you, and what steps you’re taking to make your community more equal and filled with belonging. You deserve to be heard.
• Draw on your legacy and values. As Jews, we know that we are the inheritors of strength and resilience. No matter how bleak things seem, we are a people who know how to survive and ultimately thrive. 
  • Pull from Keshet’s 7 Jewish Values for Taking Action to share why our tradition calls upon us to take action for LGBTQ+ rights this Pride and all year round. 

Take Jewish actions to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community!

• Circulate the Jewish Pledge To Affirm the Dignity of  Trans, Nonbinary and Intersex People in your community. Take the pledge yourself, too!
• Take steps in your community to become a Safe Haven for Trans People.

Encourage your Jewish community to participate in a Pride event, or find one near you to participate in on your own!

• Join Keshet Pride festivities in cities across the country. Check out the Pride events calendar here!

Host your own Pride gathering 

• Hold your own space to honor the legacy of Pride and celebrate in community. Create traditions together! Plan your very own Pride Shabbat service! Other ideas include a Pride havdalah, craft and movie nights, or visiting local LGBTQ+ historic sites. 
• Depending on your communal affiliation, check out these additional excellent Pride resources from the Conservative Movement, the Reform Movement, and Reconstructing Judaism to help plana gathering that is right for your institution. 
• To ensure that you and your community are creating spaces of LGBTQ+ belonging during Pride month and all year round, use this instructive checklist!
• If you are inviting an LGBTQ+ speaker, check out our new resource: Invite the Whole Person: Representation vs. Tokenism.

Learn the history and honor the legacy of Pride

• Before there were parades there were protests and riots. They came in response to arrests of LGBTQ+ people and police raids of LGBTQ+ spaces. The Stonewall riots in 1969 led to Pride as we know it today, but before Stonewall were the Cooper Donut riots in 1959 in Los Angeles, Dewey’s sit-ins in 1965 in Philadelphia, Compton Cafeteria riots in 1966 in San Francisco, and several others. Make sure to take some time to learn about the roots of the movement as well as the people who got us where we are.

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Keshet envisions a world in which all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families can live with full equality, justice, and dignity.  Stay connected by joining our email list and following us on social media.

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