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Making history: A new venue for Pride Shabbat

By Hunter Wengersky, J-Pride Coordinator, and Lucy Marshall, Director of Engagement & Education 

Since 2018, J-Pride has convened an annual Pride Shabbat – a pluralistic, community wide Shabbat morning service led by and for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies in Loring Park during the Twin Cities Pride Festival.  

Pride Shabbat is a historically and culturally significant event in many ways. This service draws 150+ participants from across the Twin Cities Jewish community, representing many synagogues and unaffiliated Jews with a range of backgrounds and observances. Pride Shabbat is an intergenerational experience, including a PJ Library Pride Tot Shabbat program for our youngest community members, teen Torah readers, live ASL interpretation, LGBTQ+ rabbis from multiple congregations, LGBTQ+ Jewish elders, and more. 

PJ Library Pride Tot Shabbat

J-Pride has a strong, supportive relationship with the organizers of the Twin Cities Pride Festival, and we are grateful for their long-term partnership in safely celebrating LGBTQ+ Jewish solidarity and inclusion. As always, J-Pride and JFCS coordinates closely with JCRC, the Twin Cities Pride Festival, and Sequeerity to ensure a safe environment for our community. 

Pride Shabbat sends important messages that our communities need: LGBTQ+ people belong in the Jewish community. Jewish people belong in the LGBTQ+ community. People of faith can and must be leaders in LGBTQ+ inclusion and liberation, and LGBTQ+ people deserve to find spiritual connection and safety in religious spaces. 

This year, the service will look a little different. J-Pride is thrilled to announce that Pride Shabbat 2026will take place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Saturday, June 27. 

While we acknowledge the feelings that may arise with this change, we are embracing the opportunity to thoughtfully select a new venue for our growing event. 

In keeping with our TC Pride tradition, St. Mark’s is located right in Loring Park. The Cathedral provides more robust accessibility accommodations, more straightforward security coordination, and more space to accommodate this growing event. St. Mark’s Cathedral has been a rain location for our Pride Shabbat in the past, and the Episcopal Church at large has been working for LGBTQ+ inclusion for 50 years. JFCS is a strong advocate for interfaith collaboration, and we are grateful for the generosity of St. Mark’s in welcoming the J-Pride community into their beautiful space. After the service, J-Pride will gather feedback from community members about the new location to assess plans for future years. 

Pride Shabbat is a landmark gathering in the Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities. With an organic, grassroots foundation grounded deeply in community, J-Pride is honored and proud to host this beloved, beautiful, and joyous service again this summer. We hope you will join us at our new, exciting location for Pride Shabbat 2026! 

 

A note of welcome from St. Mark’s Cathedral: 

“God created us in love, for love. No matter who you are, what your background is, or where you are on your spiritual journey, we welcome you. Simply stated, at Saint Mark’s we practice the art of loving God and loving neighbor.”