Image by Forward Montage

By Aiden Pink September 13, 2017

A coalition of North Carolina LGBTQ groups are boycotting Raleigh-Durham’s annual gay pride festival because it falls on Yom Kippur.

The NC Pride parade was originally scheduled for September 30, the day of Yom Kippur. After a backlash from Jewish community members, the organizers of NC Pride sought to fix things by changing the parade into a 12-hour-long festival from 4:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. But the beginning of the festival would still conflict with Yom Kippur, which both Jewish and LGBTQ groups found unacceptable.

A statement released Wednesday by those groups, including the LGBTQ Center of Durham and the Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill, argued, “This year’s failure to reschedule Pride from Saturday, September 30th, in observance of Yom Kippur is simply another example of the NC Pride Committee ignoring the needs of our diverse LGBTQ community.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“We are disappointed with this year’s planning of NC Pride on Yom Kippur,” Federation CEO Jill Madsen added. “What deepens these feelings is the lack of communication, outreach, or partnership from NC Pride, to work to find a solution and plan for years to come, despite our efforts to continue to connect with them.”

A related petition argued, “By abstaining from this year’s NC Pride on September 30th, we will instead invest in safe spaces, continued conversations, and ongoing action to transform ourselves, our organizations, our communities and our state through this work.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount