- by John Ferrannini, Assistant Editor
- Tuesday, April 15, 2025 (ebar.com)
Andry Jose Hernández Romero is a make-up artist from Capacho in Venezuela, famed for its epiphany celebrations.
Photo: Wilinton Barco/Reuters
The San Francisco Pride organization is defending its decision not to recognize a gay deported migrant as an honorary grand marshal in this year’s parade. Instead, the organization will make Andry Jose Hernández Romero’s case and those of other migrants a focal point of its Pride Summit in June.
Hernández Romero was whisked to an infamous Salvadorian prison by the Trump administration. It has prompted widespread outrage within the LGBTQ community and calls for his return by various community leaders and elected officials.
Longtime gay leaders Cleve Jones and Nicole Murray Ramirez have requested that Pride organizations across the country name Hernández Romero, a makeup artist, an honorary grand marshal in their parades. To date, only SF Pride has responded to the Bay Area Reporter’s requests for comment.
After a weekend of online criticism of both the Bay Area Reporter, for reporting on SF Pride’s initial denial of the request by Jones and Murray Ramirez, and SF Pride, for not recognizing Hernández Romero, Executive Director Suzanne Ford issued a statement Tuesday, April 15.
First, she reiterated that Hernández Romero “should be released immediately.”
“After receiving a text from a community member demanding SF Pride name José an honorary grand marshal, I shared that request with our board president,” Ford stated. “We deeply honor the sentiment behind that call. At the time, we felt the best thing we could do was issue a public statement calling for his release.”
Afterward, Ford said they “consulted with members of our board, including those from queer migrant communities. We also reached out to other queer leaders of migrant organizations here in the Bay Area. What we heard was clear: the issue deserves more attention than a symbolic gesture – it requires deep, sustained action and input from those living this reality every day.”
In conclusion, they decided to “partner with Michelle Meow to bring queer and migrant leaders together so that the broader community can hear directly what is being done and what resources are needed. We will also dedicate a significant portion of the Human Rights Summit on Thursday of Pride Week to highlight this important issue and center the voices of impacted communities.”
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The Human Rights Summit takes place annually. Last year, amid spirited debate in the community over the Israel-Hamas War and how Pride celebrations across the U.S. should address it, the issue went unmentioned during the 2024 summit, as the B.A.R. reported.
Ford’s statement concluded, “This is how we are supposed to tackle issues: Speak with the affected community. Listen to how they want you to show up. Accept criticism with love and humility. Then, take action with responsibility. I know that not everyone will always agree with my decisions in this role, but this work is not about me. It is about the people that we serve. I have the greatest job in the world that allows me to fight injustice every day.”
Reached for comment via phone April 15, after Ford’s statement was released, Jones had no further comment.
As the B.A.R. first reported April 11, Jones, who co-founded the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and Murray Ramirez, a San Diego-based gay activist who, as the Queen Mother I of the Americas and Nicole the Great, is the titular head of the Imperial Court system, had asked Pride organizations across the country to name Hernández Romero, 31, an honorary grand marshal.
Hernández Romero was featured on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on April 6. He was one of 238 Venezuelan migrants flown to the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador several weeks ago after the Trump administration made an agreement with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to house them there. Human Rights Watch reports that the prison is the site of human rights abuses. Hernández Romero had been detained in a San Diego immigration jail since last year, when he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to attend a pre-arranged asylum hearing in the Southern California city, the Daily Mail reported.
Jones told the B.A.R. on April 11 that Ford told him, “There was pushback about grand marshal being used that way.” Ford had issued a statement to the B.A.R. April 10 decrying the treatment of Hernández Romero in response to a B.A.R. question about if Pride would be open to naming him an honorary grand marshal. According to Jones, she told him she hoped the statement helped.
“I am very disappointed that SF Pride has chosen to take no substantive action to try to save this man’s life,” Jones previously said. “It’s shameful and sad.”
Ford did not return an April 11 phone call after Jones’ statement.
But she did post on Facebook that day, seemingly referring to the issue.
“I am fucking exhausted,” she wrote. “The outrage that we have the audacity to not agree with someone’s preferred method of protest. Where was all of your methods and outrage when trans people were being killed? Will anyone be calling me tonight telling me how to resond [sic] to that? It is time that we quit cancelling each other over how we choose to fight. It is enough that we agree on what we are fighting. This division does nothing for anyone.”
Reached for comment by phone April 11, Murray Ramirez responded, “Are you kidding me?”
“I think with San Francisco being, like, the gay capital of the world, it’s just a disappointment.”
Murray Ramirez said, “I’m very disappointed and hurt, to be honest.”
Murray Ramirez said other Pride organizations may be signing on to their request as early as this week.
Response has been “very positive,” but, “I respect they have procedures and all that,” Murray Ramirez said.
Hernández Romero has received support from state political leaders. The Los Angeles Times reported April 10 that Governor Gavin Newsom had sent a letter requesting that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem bring Hernández Romero to the U.S. for a judge to evaluate his case.
The San Francisco Democratic Party is expected to discuss and possibly act on a resolution at its April 23 meeting.
Gays Without Borders held a rally outside the Salvadoran Consulate in San Francisco last Saturday in support of Hernández Romero.
Trump ‘all for’ deporting Americans to El Salvador, he says
The detention issue comes as the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled April 10 that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of another immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it conceded was deported by mistake. The Trump administration nonetheless argued in court that because he was no longer in U.S. custody, the judicial system could not order his return.
Abrego Garcia also had not been charged or convicted of a crime and is married to an American citizen. He also had a permit from the Department of Homeland Security to legally work in the country.
The justices also ruled that the administration “be prepared to share” the efforts it’s been ordered to make to return Abrego Garcia. The Supreme Court’s ruling sent the matter back to Judge Paula Xinis, a Maryland federal district court judge, who ordered that the government had to issue a release plan for Abrego Garcia by 6:30 a.m. Pacific time April 11. Xinis later extended the deadline to 8:30 a.m. but denied a government motion to push it to Wednesday. (Xinis was appointed by former President Barack Obama.)
WUSA-TV reported that an hour after the deadline the justice department stated, “Defendants are unable to provide the information requested by the Court on the impracticable deadline set by the Court hours after the Supreme Court issued its order.” In court Friday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew C. Ensign stated that the department would be able to respond by April 15.
In a court filing April 13, Evan C. Katz, the assistant director of enforcement and removal operations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated the government’s contention that “Although Abrego Garcia has an order of removal issued by an immigration judge, I understand that he should not have been removed to El Salvador because the immigration judge had also granted Abrego Garcia withholding of removal to El Salvador. However, I also understand that Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13 which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
(Abrego Garcia was accused of being a gang member in 2019, which led to an arrest while he was working as a day laborer; however, he was not charged.)
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed a motion in response April 15, charging the government with ignoring the Supreme Court’s order.
“The government contends that the term ‘facilitate’ is limited to ‘remov[ing] any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here,’” the motion states. “Not so. The Supreme Court ordered the government ‘to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.’ That order is rendered null if construed solely to require removing ‘domestic obstacles.’ To give any meaning to the Supreme Court’s order, the government should at least be required to request the release of Abrego Garcia. To date, the government has not done so.”
It would seem that’s the president’s intention based on his public statements April 14. Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele was visiting the White House, and said he won’t be returning Abrego Garcia. Nobody has ever been released from the CECOT, nor does the government of El Salvador have plans to do so.
“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” he said. “The question is preposterous.”
Trump, on the other hand, contradicted the Justice Department’s earlier admission that Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake. He also floated the idea of sending U.S. citizens to CECOT.
“The homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places,” Trump said to Bukele. “It’s not big enough.”
Asked by reporters, Trump said he would deport Americans to El Salvador.
“I’m all for it,” he said. “Because we can do things with [Bukele] for less money and have great security. And we have a huge prison population, we have a huge number of prisons, and then we have the private prisons, and some are operated as well I guess and some aren’t.”
In a court hearing April 15, Xinis said “what the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing,” to bring back Abrego Garcia. Trump administration officials may be forced to testify under oath on the matter, Politico reported.
“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” the judge said, according to Politico. “There are no business hours while we do this. … Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments. I’m usually pretty good about things like that in my court, but not this time. So, I expect all hands on deck.”
Speaking on the Abrego Garcia case, Murray Ramirez said, “The other man, who is married, he’s getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But people forget real quick. This situation is unlike any. I understand why his family fears for his life. We’re not gonna forget.”
The Trump administration is using a novel interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as its legal basis, as its presidential powers had in the past only been thought to apply in wartime.
The high court ruled earlier this week that the act can be used to deport Venezuelan migrants, but that they must have “reasonable time” to get a court hearing beforehand. It did not rule on the flights that already transported the migrants to El Salvador, such as the one Hernandez Romero was on.
The B.A.R. reached out April 9 to organizations that are producing upcoming Pride festivities in San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, New York City, Chicago, and Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. Only SF Pride responded. Sacramento Pride also returned comment.
Sacramento Pride, which is June 14-15, is put on by the Sacramento LGBT Community Center. David Heitstuman, a gay man who is the center’s CEO, told the B.A.R. April 16 that anyone can make a nomination for grand marshal on the center’s website, but to date nobody has nominated Hernández Romero.
“Happy to consider a nomination if one is made, certainly,” he said.
SF Dems to vote on resolution
Michael Nguyen, a gay man who is on the San Francisco Democratic Party County Central Committee (the governing body of the local party) plans to introduce a resolution condemning the extrajudicial deportations at its April 23 meeting.
“Fifty years ago this month, my parents escaped an oppressive regime known for disappearing dissidents,” Nguyen stated, referring to the communist government of Vietnam. “I am heartbroken that lawful immigrants have been similarly detained, disappeared and deported. We must use whatever power and platform we have to fight for our rights under the Constitution, which includes due process and the freedom to speak out against this lawlessness.”
The Trump administration alleged that the migrants are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. (CBS News could not find U.S. criminal records in 75% of the cases.)
In Hernández Romero’s case, the government argued in court that crown tattoos he had were evidence of gang affiliation. Hernández Romero has a crown tattoo on each wrist, with the words “Mom” and “Dad.” His hometown of Capacho in Venezuela is known for its celebration of Epiphany, the Christian holy day when three wise men visited Jesus Christ.
Time magazine photographer Philip Holsinger told CBS News that he was at the prison site when the migrants arrived, and that he heard a young man say, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” He was crying for his mother while he was slapped and had his head shaved, Holsinger continued.
Hernández Romero left Venezuela in May 2024, citing his political views and homosexuality as reasons to seek asylum. Venezuela is run by a dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. contends illegally claimed the presidency of the country after losing an election.
The B.A.R. reached out to Hernández Romero’s attorneys but has not heard back. They contend their client is innocent and that it’s illegal for the U.S. government to deport anyone to a foreign prison.
