A woman began to cry as she approached a booth Saturday afternoon at She Fest in Hillcrest. She revealed that she hadn’t talked to her mother in years.
A group of mothers responded by enveloping her in hugs — and told her how great she was.
On the 10th anniversary of the San Diego She Fest — the first event of Pride Week — Free Mom Hugs was only one of dozens of booths to cater to LGBTQ+ people.
“When they say that their parents aren’t accepting or they haven’t had a mom hug in years, it’s just heartbreaking, but I’m glad we’re here for them,” said Rita Cruz, an area coordinator of Free Mom Hugs.
“Some cry a lot and don’t want to let go, so we hold on until they’re done,” she added.
Jeri Savarese, also an area coordinator, explained the group.
“We’re a nonprofit. There’s a chapter in every state, and what we do is we educate, advocate and celebrate members of the LGBTQ community and we give hugs.”
Nationwide, the organization has been invited to graduations, weddings and funerals.
“We’ve been to help other organizations that have protesters and we build a wall of moms to protect the participants from hearing the negativity,” Savarese said. “So we just show up wherever we’re asked to give unconditionallove.”
This year’s She Fest featured booths selling colorful products, informing people about local services and promoting self-care.
Live music entertained people sitting on colorful couches under a rainbow of umbrellas.
Joslyn Hatfield, director of marketing communications for San Diego Pride, spoke about the development of She Fest.
“The great thing about She Fest evolving over time is that the core of it has really stayed the same,” Hatfield said. “The spirit of it has stayed the same since its inception.
“So it’s a volunteer-led event brought together by the community who just really saw a need to create this space for LGBTQ women and trans identities.”
Hatfield said the She Fest committee stays dialed in on the needs of the community, and then develops workshops to address those needs.
She Fest also featured 10 50-minute workshops ranging from “The Art of Self-Seduction” and “Sustainable Printmaking” to “Bad-ass Boundaries Workshop: Tools to Get Your Needs Met” and “Play with Your Queerness: Games to Connect with Yourself & Our Community.”
One urged visitors to “Join the Rope Collective for a rope bondage/Shibari workshop on reclaiming your power / body!”
But organizers apologized for “San Diego Pride’s shortfalls” in canceling a workshop titled “Pinkwashing 101 — Jewish Voice for Peace San Diego and People for Palestine San Diego” was canceled in the last hours.
“San Diego Pride leadership decided the Pinkwashing 101 workshop might run a risk to safety and to the organization that we were not prepared for, and our Interim Co-Executive Directors did not do our due diligence in thorough vetting and creating a thorough safety plan for a small community event,” said a Facebook post.
”When it became clear that there was significant chance of on-site conflict due to this workshop, our Board and staff executive co-leadership decided that this is a risk that we were unable to take at this time, and we unfortunately needed to cancel this workshop.”
Asked how she felt San Diego compared with other cities in relationship to the LGBTQ community, Hatfield said: “San Diego is a great city, and it’s a very welcoming city, and our community here in Hillcrest, you know with our LGBTQ owned and led businesses and our chambers and our elected officials.
“We have a lot of support here for our community in the city of SanDiego.”
But proposed legislation in the nation has raised worries, Hatfield said.
“I think people are concerned that the possibility of rights being taken away is very much a reality for our community,” she said.
But for people who have been involved in She Fest throughout the decade, “This event is pure joy for anyone who has been involved with it from the beginning or at any point along the way,” Hatfield said.
She pointed out that many people who began volunteering for She Fest have gone on to become leaders in business and the community.
Toni Duran, district representative for State Sen. Toni Atkins, said a sense of belonging somewhere is very important.
“Just having community and seeing that there’s a space for you and that there are others were ready to welcome you in — that’s always the biggest need I think for all of us,” Duran said.
Savarese said she gets a lot of satisfaction from involved with Free Mom Hugs.
“It means a ton to me personally because I myself identify as queer and so does my child, so to be able to come out here and give complete strangers, have them fall apart in our arms and give them a conditional love means the world,” she said.
