In the latest episode of the popular podcast Being Jewish, A Wider Bridge’s Board Chair Daniel Hernandez Jr. shared his compelling journey as a gay Latino Zionist leader and mass shooting survivor. Alongside his sisters, Alma and Consuelo Hernandez—both Arizona legislators—the siblings discuss the exploration of identity, resilience, and public service.
Daniel Hernandez Jr. first gained national attention in 2011 when, as an intern, he heroically assisted Congresswoman Gabby Giffords during a mass shooting in Tucson. This act of bravery propelled him into the public eye and ignited a career dedicated to advocacy and politics.
His gay, Latino identity has been both a source of strength and a catalyst for his activism. Daniel discusses the complexities of navigating these intersecting identities in the political arena and how they inform his approach to leadership and community engagement.
Hernandez first learned about Judaism and antisemitism at the fourth grade, from his beloved teacher, a Holocaust survivor. “That really stuck with me,” he told host Jonah Platt, “the idea that you could have an entire group go after another group, and that there was so much hatred that they would try and not only make their lives harder, but literally kill each other.”
“Going into fifth grade,” he continued, “I gravitated towards every book I could get my hands on in the public library in Pima County, which is where we grew up, on the Holocaust and the Second World War, and then that eventually led me to this idea of a new country, the state of Israel.”
“So I started, I think, becoming a Zionist in fifth grade, because I was learning about how people hated each other and killed each other during the Holocaust. It’s not a great book at 10 years old, reading the medical experiments at Auschwitz, not a super appropriate book, but it was something that was really foundational for me.”
Much of his Zionism, Daniel explained, was developed also because of his family’s values. “So much of our family’s values has become, for [my sisters] Judaism, but for me Zionism and making sure that we’re doing everything we can to support and to stand back and fight against antisemitism because it’s so rampant,” he said.
Daniel’s involvement with organizations like A Wider Bridge exemplifies his dedication to building inclusive spaces. On the podcast, he spoke about the necessity of creating dialogues that transcend traditional boundaries and foster mutual understanding among diverse groups.
“I’m seeing discrimination as a Latino. I’m seeing discrimination as a person who’s LGBTQ. I need to make sure that I’m not doing things that are making it harder for my Jewish friends,” he said.
“We see the attacks on the LGBTQ community, we see the attacks on immigrants, so we’re all in this fight together. We may all just be wearing different hats when we’re showing up to the marches.”
Listen to the full episode with Daniel Hernandez and his sisters, titled “The Cost of Freedom and Arizona’s Jewish Latina Legislators,” here