Chicago’s Pride Weekend Has Something for Everyone
As June winds down and the temperature rises, the weekend that gay Chicago has been waiting for all year is now here: Gay Pride. The weekend concludes a month packed full of events with a number of events catered to bring out the city's diverse LGBT community to celebrate and show solidarity in light of a year filled with political victories, defeats and trying economic times.
The crown jewel of the weekend is, of course, the lavish Pride Parade, beginning at noon Sunday at the corner of Halsted and Belmont Streets and progressing south through the heart of Boystown. The parade, now in its fortieth year, will draw an unprecedented 250 floats and organizations of every shape and size, in front of a crowd estimated at several million.
"The Pride celebration brings together a vast array of LGBT people, and over the years, a lot of our straight allies have come out as well. It shows people can get along and be together," said Richard Pfeiffer, coordinator of PRIDEChicago, the parade's organizers. "This year is also the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, so it's special for this reason, in addition to having political issues like 'Don't Ask Don't Tell,' same-sex marriage and domestic partner issues on the front burner."
This year's parade features Grand Marshal Alexandra Billings, a noted transgender actor, teacher and activist featured in innumerable theatrical productions, in addition to a guest-starring roles on television shows including "E.R." and "Grey's Anatomy." Pfeiffer noted her participation was especially significant as the transgender community played a crucial role in the Stonewall rebellion, in addition to smaller protests predating Stonewall, such as the oft-overlooked Compton's Cafeteria riot in 1966 in Los Angeles.
PRIDEChicago's selection of Billings also stands in the face of criticism directed toward Pride celebrations by notable gay voices including Dan Savage who have questioned the value of highly visible parades to the modern LGBT rights movement's progress.
"No matter what we do or what we present, the people who really dislike or hate us will pick issues and people within our community who don't fit a mold of how people should dress or appear," Pfeiffer said. "The parades show the amalgamation of our community. We don't want to go back into the '50s and hide those who match stereotypes; those are the people being bashed the most and really need to be out there."
The Pride Parade will not be in the only march in town this weekend.
Saturday, Dyke March Chicago will kick off with a rally at 1800 S. Halsted in Pilsen at 1 p.m. The march, in its thirteenth year, provides a different outlet for LGBT Chicagoans to hit the streets - an outlet that organizer Emilia Chico wanted to make clear was open to all.
"We're all inclusive," Chico said. "We want to move it away from being just women. We want to see families, non-gender conforming folks, trans folks, bi people, gay men, people from all spectrums. At the same time, we see that a lot of the Pride festivities take on a more entertainment role and are more festive and debaucherous in nature.We're looking toward building a resilience movement standing in opposition of hate and homophobia. It's a call to visibility. We're queer, we're dykes, we're trans, we're bi - we're in your community, coming out and getting noticed."
Finally, those looking for a party to warm up (or wind down) from prideful parading also have a number of options, including the sixth annual Backlot Bash held Saturday and Sunday behind Cheetah Gym in Andersonville, 5238 N. Clark St.
The event, featuring female performers ranging from soulful singer-songwriters to raucous cover bands, has built a reputation in its short history for attracting top-notch talent and providing an alternative Pride weekend experience for the city's lesbian community.
"At first, the idea was just to have fun and bring out a local women's band to get them recognized, but we didn't realize how big it would get," said Christina Wiesmore, one of the event's principal organizers, who noted that this year is the first the event is taking place over the course of two days.
"We wanted to recognize the women's community and do something outside the box. There's always been the parade and a lot of boy parties, but never a big showing for the girls. We wanted to not only recognize the women's community, but more importantly, the business and charities around that as well."
And, of course, for the guys, there still remain a number of hot events worth checking out, in addition to the many featured events at many fabulous drinking establishments of Boystown. Among these are the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus's "Over the Rainbow" tribute show to Judy Garland at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, Friday and Saturday, and the Pretty Boy Pride party at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie St., after the parade Sunday.
For detailed information on these and other events marking the conclusion of Chicago Pride Month, visit www.chicagopridecalendar.org. Happy Pride, Chicago!