Most of the nation celebrates Pride Month in June. Due to scheduling reasons, San Diego’s major annual LGBTQ+ celebrations occur during July’s Pride Week (July 16-20), culminating in a huge parade in Hillcrest and a two-day music festival in Balboa Park.
San Diego’s 2025 Pride Week has been beset by complaints of organizational management and claims that local leaders aren’t active enough on social issues. San Diego Pride denies those allegations.
The problems bubbled up when San Diego Pride chose singer Kehlani to headline Day 1 of the Pride Festival.
Kehlani proudly professes to be a member of the LGBTQ community. However, groups have complained that some lyrics in her songs are antisemitic. In an Instagram reel, Kehlani denies being antisemitic but says regarding Palestine she is antigenocide.
The number of Jewish-affiliated groups and local public/political figures who plan to boycott the festival, the parade, or both, continues to grow.
With Pride celebrations now weeks away, The Sun unscientifically polled people in downtown San Diego on the decision to hire Kehlani. We heard mixed responses regarding an artists’ First Amendment rights and an organization’s ability to read the room when selecting performers for public performances.
San Diegan Philip Smith says artists deserve to have freedom of speech.
“If they made previous statements and organizations take into regards those statements, they should still hire the artist,” Smith says. “They made that statement, that’s their freedom.”
Little Italy security guard Joel Luevno agrees that artists should be allowed to speak their mind.
“I say people should say what they feel like, and what they feel in their mind,” he says.
Others like downtown worker Dan Toma say organizations should carefully consider the reputation of who they’re hiring.
“[The artist] is somewhat representative of the organization and what’s being presented out there,” Toma says. “If you’re in favor of the political stance of the artist, it might help promote your organization. However, if you’re against it, it may detract from your standing.”
San Diegan Jay Edgcomb believes entertainers can use their platforms to air opinions about social issues but should be aware of the consequences.
Local student Dahniyah Kkuloa says hiring decisions should be based on the event.
“Overall, it shouldn’t matter,” she says. “But if the event has a specific value and someone goes against that value, I wouldn’t hire that artist. And, if the event stands for something, and the artist stands against it, I would not want to hire them.”
A student named Cameron, who asked not to use his last name, says San Diego Pride should not have hired Kehlani due to her statements offending members of the public who might boycott the festival.
“…If you beg to differ with an artist, you’re probably not going to see that person perform,” he says. “I would say no to hiring her in the first place.”
Conversely, East Village resident Cherry Reschke doesn’t think an artist’s politics should have a bearing on hiring for events such as San Diego Pride.
“If they’re telling the truth about what’s going on, there shouldn’t be a real problem,” Reschke says. “If it’s for real bad reasons, they shouldn’t be included. But if not, why not?”
Leila Rays lives and works in East Village and feels strongly that an artist’s political standpoints shouldn’t affect their career, or opportunity to perform.
“We have freedom of speech for a reason,” Rays says. “If that’s the case, you might as well just take away our freedom of speech.” SDSun
