Nashville Pride Grand Marshal Doyle is complicit in hate

What Glennon Doyle may see as compassion is functioning as accelerant — fueling age-old antisemitic tropes and justifying hate on American soil. Her followers are not extremists.

Alyssa Rosenheck
 |  Guest Columnist

See moment suspected gunman in attack on Israel embassy staff arrested

Police detained the suspect in an attack on Israeli embassy staff. He chanted “free, free Palestine” as he was detained.

• Author and influencer Glennon Doyle, Nashville Pride’s Grand Marshal, has shared social media posts, including ‘Free Palestine’, that are deemed harmful to the Jewish community.
• The author calls on Doyle to acknowledge the harm caused and for Nashville Pride to reconsider her title.

In Nashville — a city I love and call home — Pride Month is supposed to be a celebration of inclusion, safety and truth. Instead, Music City is platforming ignorance and hate.

Glennon Doyle, a best-selling author and social media icon with millions of followers, was recently named Grand Marshal of Nashville Pride.

This honor is meant to reflect the highest values of the LGBTQ+ community. But Doyle’s platform has become a megaphone amplifying disinformation that endangers Jews — and distorts the truth about Israel.

On May 16th, Doyle posted on Instagram: “For the love of all humanity: FREE PALESTINE.”

Four days later, she reposted a viral claim — since retracted by the United Nations — that 14,000 babies in Gaza had “less than 48 hours to live.” She closed her caption again with the words: “Free Palestine”

Let’s stop pretending this is harmless.

‘Free Palestine’ has been used to justify murder

On May 25th in Washington, D.C., two young people — Sarah Milgrim, a Jewish woman, and Yaron Lischinsky, a Christian Israeli man — were targeted and murdered at a Jewish peace event. The gathering, hosted by the American Jewish Committee and attended by Israeli embassy staff and young American delegates, focused on humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians.

After pulling the trigger, the shooter shouted: “Free Palestine.”

On June 1st in Boulder, Colorado, another violent attack took place. Molotov cocktails were hurled at Jews in broad daylight — including a Holocaust survivor. The assailant screamed “Free Palestine” as he lit Jewish bodies on fire.

Let’s be clear: “Free Palestine” — a political slogan tied to the Iranian-backed BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement — is doing exactly what it was designed to do: morph into an open call for violence.

More: A surge in antisemitism on campuses is changing how Jewish students pick universities

These are not innocent reposts. These are narratives that demonize Jews, erase Zionism, call for the destruction of Israel and undermine American values. From Instagram captions to the final words of murderers, this is no longer just a chant. It’s a weapon.

And this isn’t just a Jewish problem. This is an American problem.

Islamist radicalization — fueled by online propaganda, spread through campus activism and now cloaked in the language of influencer “empathy” — is here. And it is deadly.

The irony is hard to ignore: Doyle champions a cause whose militant factions would criminalize her very existence as a gay woman — an identity that, in most all of these regimes, is punishable by death.

Yet whether knowingly or not, she continues to echo slogans rooted in movements hostile to LGBTQ+ rights and women’s freedoms.

Words matter. Doyle and others must be responsible with their platforms.

I write this not just as a Jew, but as a Nashvillian. I recently returned from a post-war delegate mission to Israel, my third since the war.

I’ve walked through the ashes of October 7th. I’ve spoken to survivors. I’ve embraced released hostages. I’ve met with those on the physical front lines of this conflict as well as foreign ambassadors brokering solutions.

I’ve attended foreign-policy conferences focused on peace and accountability. And I’ve seen how disinformation spreads online before the truth can take a breath.

What Doyle may see as compassion is functioning as accelerant — fueling age-old antisemitic tropes and justifying hate on American soil. Her followers are not extremists. They’re American women, moms, activists, authors, dreamers and influencers — many of whom now echo phrases like “genocide,” “apartheid” and “settler-colonialism” without context, education or accountability.

This isn’t empathy. It’s a polished, pastel-wrapped form of hate — and it’s metastasizing.

More: Nashville Jewish community reflects on Israel support since Oct. 7, rallies for road ahead

It flattens geopolitical complexity into clickbait and repackages extremism as virtue. It radicalizes soccer moms in yoga pants, sipping green juice and posting “sham spirituality” between affiliate links while chanting BDS slogans they don’t understand.

Chief among them: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a call for the erasure of Israel and the Jewish people.

Worse, it’s being celebrated. Instead of confronting the harm Doyle’s posts have caused, Nashville is rewarding her with the Grand Marshal title — a role that symbolizes community trust, visibility and shared values.

We know false claims travel faster than truth. And their damage lingers. Nearly 70% of people still believe misinformation even after it’s been debunked. And nearly half the world’s population — 46%, according to the ADL — harbors antisemitic views.

In this climate, elevating someone like Doyle isn’t just irresponsible. It’s reckless.

Jewish safety is everyone’s safety. What begins with the Jews never ends with us. A society that tolerates antisemitism invites violence, radicalization and collapse — for all.

This isn’t a call to cancel. It’s a call to wake up.

Doyle must take responsibility. She must meet with Jewish leaders, learn the truth behind the slogans she’s amplified and publicly acknowledge the damage done. Silence is complicity. Influence is never neutral.

And Nashville Pride must reconsider its decision.

You cannot fight for one group’s dignity by standing on the neck of another. You cannot celebrate love while platforming hate. Let this be a moment of intellectual courage and civic clarity.

Because when slogans become weapons and lies go viral, our only defense is truth. And who we choose to elevate reveals who we are.

Alyssa Rosenheck is a bestselling author and photographer who uses her lens to advocate for our collective home. Through her forthcoming book, White. Blonde. Jew. (Spring 2026), and firsthand insights from post-war delegations to Israel, she confronts modern antisemitism while inspiring truth-tellers and cultural clarity.