OKCPS withdraws from 2024 PrideFest Parade, citing organizers' Free Palestine stance

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — After a district board meeting on Monday, Oklahoma City Public Schools sent a statement to staff members announcing their decision to withdraw from the Oklahoma PrideFest Parade on June 30.

The statement, which can be read below, cites the organizers' Free Palestine stance as their reasoning for withdrawing from the event.

Team OKCPS, 

OKCPS has proudly participated in the Oklahoma City Pride Parade since 2017. Recently, we became aware that the 2024 organizers have aligned with the Soft Hand organization in support of their Free Palestine stance.  

We believe that the Oklahoma Pride Alliance’s recent stance with Free Palestine takes away from our original intent of participating in the parade and other Pride activities. After careful consideration, OKCPS has decided to withdraw our participation from this year’s parade.  

While we will not be part of this year’s parade, OKCPS celebrates our LGBTQ+ students, families and staff, and we remain committed to supporting LGBTQ+ students and staff members through other initiatives and partnerships that reflect our core values and contribute to a healthy, vibrant community.

Thank you for your continued support. 

Oklahoma City Public Schools

According to their website, Soft Hand is a volunteer-run, shirt-making, fundraising operation based in Oklahoma City.

Many of the shirts shown on Soft Hand's social media feature Free Palestine messaging. There are also images of other shirts with designs supportive of 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans, abortion access and overdose harm reduction.

On Tuesday, Freedom Oklahoma issued a statement in response to OKCPS's decision to withdraw from the parade.

At a time when 2SLGBTQ+ students are disproportionately targeted by those in power, it is a telling choice by the OKCPS Board to remove shows of support for those youth and their broader communities. We may call it a parade, but when folks gather together Sunday June 30 to march through the streets of Oklahoma City, the intention of that space has always been and will always be to honor the legacy of Pride as a riot, a radical demand for freedom, and a commitment to building that freedom together. To pretend that the spirit of Pride celebrations is not rooted in the fight for collective liberation is to willfully misunderstand the 2SLGBTQ+ movement and the ongoing work to secure a future where we all have the safety to thrive. That future is not possible without a Free Palestine. 

Nicole McAfee, Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma

Oklahoma PrideFest will start on Friday, June 28, and continue through Sunday, June 30, at Scissortail Park. The PrideFest Parade is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, following a route starting at the intersection of N Walker and Couch Drive, and ending on S Robinson.