Take Back Pride

As May 2016 unfolds the organizers at Pride are feverishly working to prepare for the annual Santa Cruz Pride celebration. According to its website, the Santa Cruz Pride that the community cherishes, evolved from the first “Gay Pride” event in 1975. Pride is a community celebration of acceptance, tolerance, and compassion, which attracts diverse groups like: Dykes on Bikes, the Santa Cruz Zen Center, the SEIU along with nearly 80 others.

Take Back Santa Cruz is one group who is signed up year after year, which doesn’t really fit the Pride Parade’s philosophy of togetherness, understanding and compassion. Take Back Santa Cruz marches in formation happily wielding their, “Bully Free Zone” signs, subliminally mocking the very community where they’ve ushered in divisiveness, hatred, judgement, and have indeed bullied scores of people. The group must simply be using for marketing purposes, as their daily actions and Facebook posts speak much more loudly in the opposite direction. To us, having them march in Pride advocating against bullying it’s akin to inviting a white supremacist group to march in a Civil Rights parade along side Martin Luther King jr.

There are reports in various Santa Cruz news sources documenting TBSC members harassing people in RVs, violently confronting poor people sleeping outside, and constantly cyberbullying good citizens who disagree with their tactics of hatred and bigotry. They generally despise our veterans who live on the streets, the mentally ill, and the chemically addicted amongst a list of other groups who TBSC are notorious for harassing and publicly shaming on their closed Facebook Page. People who live in RVs were their most recent target, and now they’re voicing opposition to Prop 47, which reduces the sentence for certain crimes like drug possession. Many of the group’s actions are the exact opposite of what Pride stands for.

Contrary to their “Bully Free Zone” signs, TBSC is known for bullying anyone who steps slightly away from the group’s compartmentalized message, and those that do are censored and often deleted from the page. In just a couple of years of their existence they have singlehandedly morphed the word “compassion” into essentially what amounts to a four letter expletive. Much of the rhetoric that they allow to flourish on their Facebook Page follows the typical conservative party line that equates “compassion” with “weakness.” They continually repeat that you must be a part of some “Toxic Charity” if you support programs which are proven to minimize harm within a population, or support programs that help those less fortunate like the Homeless Service Center. It’s important to note that the admin approve every new post on their page, and are responsible for the tone of the group.

This year Pride’s theme is “Embracing the Generations,” where organizers will be recognizing, “ …the Trailblazers who helped create the LGBTQ+ community in Santa Cruz.” Many Street Outreach programs were started in the early to mid 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic spread like wildfire through our communities. These programs offered condoms, sex education, needle exchanges, and referrals to various harm reduction and counseling services. They offered a safe space for people to talk about their lives in a caring environment, and to people who understood them. These early programs sought to the stem the spread of HIV during the AIDS crisis of the early ‘80s. HIV, Hepatitis, and other blood borne diseases do not stay confined to one population, therefore it is imperative to their spread amongst any group. TBSC singlehandedly shut down our very successful Street Outreach Supporters here in Santa Cruz, and there are reports of a spike in blood borne diseases locally.

On May 22, 2013, the same program that that was put in place here in Santa Cruz many decades ago to educate, provide connection to counseling, and reduce harm to the general public caused by disease, was directly harassed and cyberbullied by members of TBSC. Prominent TBSC members and admin Samantha Olden, and Lisa Litten dressed up like “junkies” and bragged about their attempts to infiltrate the Street Outreach Supporters. Remember, TBSC's admin approve every single post, and are notorious censors of posts which don't agree with their tactics.

Was Litten and Olden’s goal to snap a few photos, perhaps some video, of people who are suffering from the disease of addiction and then shame them on TBSC’s Facebook Page? Was their goal to harass SOS users and volunteers, in an effort to give an already desperate population more difficulties? Regardless of their end goals, their intentions were heartless, and no where in line with what our community stands for. This kind of behavior is abhorrent, and reminiscent of the countless LGBTQ+ people who have been harassed, stalked, hurt, and even killed by people with similar philosophies and tactics as TBSC. The community as a whole should speak out loudly and with a unified voice against such bullying.

As you can read in the TBSC FB page screenshots below, the conversation documenting Litten and Olden’s exploits quickly devolved into talk about guns, knives, and self defense as if the two were characters in a detective movie. City employees joined the discussion, including the current Santa Cruz Mayor’s son, illustrating just how politically connected TBSC really is.

So how does a group who uses such violent language on a daily basis toward mostly poor, disenfranchised, mentally ill, and chemically addicted people feel good about marching in a parade that celebrates good, compassion and understanding of differences? How is this group who called a "court watch" on a man who was later found innocent tolerated by the community at large? How do they put on smiles, and hoist their “Bully Free Zone” signs when they know good and well that they are some of the biggest bullies in Santa Cruz?

Simply put: Marketing!

It seems like TBSC has realized that they have an image problem, and have evolved their tactics to come across a little softer. And while we defend one’s right to free speech, people must understand that it’s a two way street. Raise your voice for what is right! Let them know loud and clear that there is no place for their brand of bigotry in our community.

The fourth screenshot was taken from Take Back Santa Cruz’s YouTube Channel. The comment has since been deleted, but we feel that it captures a candid moment of the group’s true self. It’s a moment like when a politician doesn’t realize that the mic was left on and the public is able to see behind the curtain. The polish is removed, and we can peer into their vile truth. We see that TBSC’s words are as bigoted as the sentiments toward the LGBTQ+ community in the 1970s, which the organizers of the very first Pride events felt it necessary to combat with love, compassion, and a fun-loving spirit. They don’t stop there, their closed Facebook page is littered with hateful comments toward local politicians, the mentally ill, the houseless, the poor, and anyone else who doesn’t agree with their political agenda. No group or individual deserves their level of public ridicule.

We urge you to contact Pride coordinator Dina Izzo, and respectfully let them know that how you feel, and if TBSC is included please raise your voice and tell them directly.

Dina Izzo
info [at] santacruzpride.org
831-234-0259