Just this last weekend, 2 schools in Chula Vista were vandalized with homophobic and antisemitic graffiti. Today, LGBTQ, Jewish, and Latinx community leaders came together to denounce these acts of hate. Our shared struggle is the ongoing fight against white supremacy. Our fight is far from over.
Over the last few years, our region has seen a rise in anti-LGBTQ violence and intimidation, much of which still goes unreported, and yet new data from the FBI shows hate crimes surged in 2020 to their highest levels in 12 years. None of us should be strangers to the ongoing struggles to combat anti-Black racism, anti-Latinx bias and xenophobia, missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, or the fight to stop Asian hate. Our movements are stronger when we stand in solidarity.
White supremacist values don’t always show up as graffiti or violence. Sometimes it takes the form of policy, infrastructure, and the literal shape of districts and boundaries for elected offices. All across the country and right here, right now, these boundary lines are being redrawn in ways that have the potential to allow marginalized communities to see ourselves and our priorities reflected by those in power, or be disenfranchised. We must remain vigilant and engaged in this process that will not only reshape these lines but will impact our daily lives by the policies and values determined by those people in power for the next decade.
While the city of San Diego’s proposed redistricting maps leave an LGBTQ empowerment seat intact, the current “Chair’s Map” disenfranchises communities of color and leaves in place long-standing anti-Semitic values as community organizer and advocate Aidan Lin points out in his recent piece in the Union-Tribune. The chair of the Redistricting Commission, Tom Hebrank, who designed his own map, ignoring community input stated, “I don’t think it’s going to probably vary radically.” Processes and statements like this dissuade community participation in our democracy.
Meanwhile, a diverse group of QTBIPOC individuals and organizations worked in coalition to do what no outside firm could or the chair could – establish a map that represents the very real people and communities of our city. Commissioner Justine Nielsen stated, “the San Diego Collaborative Communities Map satisfies the commission’s stated goals and serves the most communities possible.” Yet our collective effort is being ignored.
Similarly, redistricting maps presented for California State Senate and State Assembly districts divide San Diego and LA’s LGBTQ communities, dangerously diminishing our voice and power. The districts being split in these maps have empowered LGBTQ people like Christine Kehoe and Toni Atkins to lead on LGBTQ issues in the California State Capitol.
There is still time to engage in redistricting. There is still time to empower LGBTQ and BIPOC communities. We are working together and must continue to do so. It is united in the face of white supremacy in all its forms that our movements will remain Resilient.
In Solidarity,
Fernando Zweifach López
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Executive Director
San Diego Pride
P.S. Here is how you can make your voice heard in these redistricting efforts:
Fernando Lopez is the Executive Director of San Diego Pride. Lopez’s years of LGBT advocacy, nonprofit management, public education, diversity consulting, media relations, guest lectures, and organizing have made them a consistent presence ensuring the struggles of the LGBT community are ever visible.
