Saturday, August 22, 2026 marks Jersey City’s 26th Annual Jersey City Pride Festival. This year’s theme is “Show Your True Colors”. Earlier this month I attended Jersey City’s Pride Flag Raising Ceremony at Jersey City City Hall.

Before we get to specifics, let’s start with a working definition of otherism. Going beyond the clinical, sanitized, ethereal versions, let’s agree that otherism entails seeing a person, group, or community as being different from ourselves and undeserving of the status, privilege, relevance, or recognition that our group has.