The 2015 Chicago Pride Parade
On Sunday, the 46th Chicago Pride Parade made its way through Uptown, Lakeview and Lincoln Park community areas. The parade route changed in many ways since it was moved to Lakeview in its second year, but one thing remained true - the heart of the parade still lies where the second parade started, along the stretch of Halsted Street between Grace and Belmont. The stretch that became the city's most enduring gay neighborhoods - Boystown.
It's also the part of the parade route that I usually try to avoid. Even when tweelore took me to my very first Pride Parade back in 2006, the crowds were packed enough to rival St Petersburg subways during rush hour. It only got worse since - which was was why, in 2012, the route was rearranged and greatly expanded to stretch into Uptown in hopes that a longer route would spread the crowds out. But the word was that crowds were still busiest along Halsted Street - and I never dared to check to see if it was true.
But this year, vladiatorr sent me a Facebook invite to come and enjoy the festivities at Replay, a Boystown bar where he works. It was one of those mass invites, and I wasn't sure how seriously I should take it - but as soon as my mom heard me mention it, she insisted that I had to stop buy and give Vlad her best wishes. And that settled it for me. I was going.
This year, there were two things that were different about the parade. The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage was the obvious one. But there the fact that, over the past five years, there has been growing concern over what has been described as out-of-control drunkenness and rising crime (mostly of the pickpocketing variety, but also more severe stuff like sexual assault). In the run-up to this year's parade, Ald Tom Tunney (44th) and Ald John Cappleman (46th), whose wards take up most of the parade route, said that, if things don't get better, they'll ask the parade to be moved downtown. Which a lot of people have not taken well. I mean, sure, the first parade took place much closer to downtown, in Near North community area, but the other 45 took place in Lakeview, and the prospect of not having a parade in Boystown just seems... wrong. In fact, I'm confident that the proposal would have caused a much larger backlash if the two aldermen weren't openly gay.
This year, the security has been beefed up significantly, and new restrictions on public drinking were put in place. For now, the jury is still out on whether or not it worked, but I suspect we'll know in a couple of days.
For now, I wanted to talk about the parade itself.
Belmont 'L" station tended to become completely impassable during Pride Parade. This year, the CTA decided to cut its losses and just close it entirely, forcing people who weren't already doing the smart thing and using other 'L' stations to find alternative ways to get there.
Which is probably why the crowds at Addison 'L' station were a bit larger than I remembered.
One thing that surprised me was how many merch hawkers were along the parade route. There have always been some - they are an inevitable part on any large Chicago event - but I didn't think I've ever seen that many.
As I got closer to Addison/Halsted intersection, it was clear that emergency services were very much ready to go.
And here's what the parade route looked like about 15 minutes from its official start time.
I was surprised that crowds actually weren't that bad, by Halsted Street standards. You could actually walk in both directions and still have some room to walk. That is quite an achievement.
One of the main rules of Chicago Pride Parade (other than 'have fun,' 'be safe' and 'be yourself') is Always be Hydrating. So it was nice to see Salvation Army handing out free water and lemonade.
As always, pretty much everybody who lived along Halsted Street took advantage of their apartments/condos' vantage points.
And invited people to share in the fun
Some parade watchers took impromptu celebrations to nearby streets
I decided to find a spot near Replay. I managed to sort of finangle my way in the front row and waited.
Having marched in the parade, I knew that, even though it started at noon, it would be some time before it reaches Boystown. And sure enough, it wasn't until 2015 that we saw the police escorts
The sanitation workers (who got enthusiastic applause)
And the beginnings of the parade itself.
The first person in the parade? Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, walking around and shaking hands with people (he didn't shake mine).
At this point, I should say that I took lots of pictures - in part because my mom couldn't be there and asked me to be her eyes and ears (and then acted shocked when I told her how many pictures I actually took ;) ). There is no way to put them all here. Too much copy-pasting of embed codes. At times like this, I wish Flickr still had a function that let you post entire sets directly to Livejournal. But since that's not an option anymore... I'm going to stick to highlights. You can see the rest of the set starting here, or just click through the complete set.
Or, alternatively, just click through the slide show
But if you're still sticking me for now - in (mostly) chronological order, here are the a few highlights.
Scouts for equality
Kids from Nettelhort School
Chicago City Council's LGBT Caucus, a first for the parade. As I've written before, during this year's municipal elections, the number of openly gay aldermen increased from 3 to 5 - enough to form a caucus.
Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who lost the mayoral run-off (and, as I mentioned before, was endorsed by Windy City Times, Chicago's only surviving LGBT newspaper)
These days, it's pretty common to see local Democrat politicians (who aren't South Siders) at the parade. Republicans such as US Senator Mark Kirk are a bit rarer. Though, in fairness, Kirk has long positioned himself as a moderate on social issues
Dykes on Bikes - a group of motorcycle riders that has become one of the most quintessential parts of the parade
And then, there were Bikes and Mics - a newer organization that came to the parade as some mix of steampunk...
...and Mad Max: Fury Road cosplay
Folia Brazil Carnival
Openly gay heads of Chicago area colleges and universities
The timing of the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision didn't really give the marchers' much time to do anything to react to the news. Didn't mean that some didn't try. Mostly, it was a bit haphazard
But some, like Balloons for Tommy, went for something a little more elaborate
But it was Lambda Legal, the most prominent LGBT legal organization, that was really on the ball
For those who don't know - these are portraits for Supreme Court judges that ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage nation-wide
And, of course, I would be remiss not to include photos from some other parade regulars. The LGBT-welcoming churches
And PFLAG - a nation-wide organization of parents, friends and allies who support lGBT individuals.
The parade didn't entirely without incident. At around 1:45 PM, there was an about 17-minute pause as the parade seemingly came to a halt somewhere near Addison/Halsted intersection. Turned out that a group of protestors staged a die-in. Per Chicago Sun-Times
Spokesperson Page May said the eight held the center of a multi-layered, circle-shaped protest for about 17 minutes before they were physically harassed by “a lot of Pride people.” They were then arrested and told they would only be cited but were being jailed, May said.
The group was protesting to “bring attention to issues that have received marginal attention in lieu of marriage equality,” including violence against the transgender community and homelessness of LGBTQ youth, according to a statement.
The group went a bit more into their motivations on their blog.
After the parade resumed, I kept watching for about half an hour or so, until I started to feel woosy. Remember the "Always be Hydrating" bit? I didn't bring any water with me, and I would up paying the price.
I ducked inside the bar where Vlad worked.
I talked to Vlad a bit and passed on the messages, but he was pretty busy. Mostly, I just sat on the patio, drank plenty of water and tried to recover
About half an hour later, I felt well enough to head out for a bit. As I headed out, Vlad introduced me to the assistant managers.
"This is my brother, Igor," he said. "He doesn't drink at all, so if he stops by, give him a cranberry juice."
"Is this your first time at Pride?" one of the managers asked.
"Oh, he's been going since I came out," Vlad said. "That's what - either years?"
"Nine."
While I watched the parade a bit more, ultimately, I didn't feel like sticking around. And I was starting to feel hungry. But, since Replay is on the east side of the parade route, there was no way for me to reach the 'L' unless I went all the way up to the where the route started.
One odd thing I came across was a street musician. The musician himself wasn't odd - it was that he decided to play during Pride Parade, which is pretty infamous for all the loud music coming from the floats. Yet the guy did actually seem to earn some money.
As I got closer and closer to the parade starting point at Broadway/Montrose intersection, I realized that I was seeing the final parade floats. Which wasn't too surprising - the parade was moving in the opposite direction I was. But I never actually seen the tail end of the parade before.
By that point, the city workers were starting to take barricades apart. I could've crossed the street at any point, but my instincts pushed me to keep walking until I reached the parade starting point.
Turned out, BP set up a party spot at the gas station right at the southwest corner of Broadway and Montrose.
Where people could get stickers, write what Pride means to them, and put them on the display board.
But what really drew my attention was the music coming from another corner of the gas station.
As I written before, I love dance music. I can count the number of times I've been to clubs with one hand, and my position on drugs is pretty well-recorded. But what makes dance music great is its power to send your emotions on a rollercoaster, to get you up and moving.
I couldn't resist. I joined the dancers. Little kids, high schoolers, college kids, older adults, even some middle-aged women. Black, white, Hispanic and Asian. Gay, straight and trans. Just dancing.
It was beautiful.
I was still dealing with after-effects of overheating, so I couldn't dance for long. But I enjoyed every second I did. My only regret was that I didn't take any video, because the photos really don't do it justice.
And so, I headed out to get some food. But not before pausing to write something on the display board.
"My brother, who can finally get married anywhere, if he wants to."
Outside, a woman was playfully griding on a cop while her friends took pictures.
And, as I headed north, I watched as the clean-up work already started.
As I said earlier in the post, the jury is still out whether the Pride Parade will be forced to relocate. For now, I just want to enjoy the good memories.
Until next year. One place or another.
It's also the part of the parade route that I usually try to avoid. Even when tweelore took me to my very first Pride Parade back in 2006, the crowds were packed enough to rival St Petersburg subways during rush hour. It only got worse since - which was was why, in 2012, the route was rearranged and greatly expanded to stretch into Uptown in hopes that a longer route would spread the crowds out. But the word was that crowds were still busiest along Halsted Street - and I never dared to check to see if it was true.
But this year, vladiatorr sent me a Facebook invite to come and enjoy the festivities at Replay, a Boystown bar where he works. It was one of those mass invites, and I wasn't sure how seriously I should take it - but as soon as my mom heard me mention it, she insisted that I had to stop buy and give Vlad her best wishes. And that settled it for me. I was going.
This year, there were two things that were different about the parade. The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage was the obvious one. But there the fact that, over the past five years, there has been growing concern over what has been described as out-of-control drunkenness and rising crime (mostly of the pickpocketing variety, but also more severe stuff like sexual assault). In the run-up to this year's parade, Ald Tom Tunney (44th) and Ald John Cappleman (46th), whose wards take up most of the parade route, said that, if things don't get better, they'll ask the parade to be moved downtown. Which a lot of people have not taken well. I mean, sure, the first parade took place much closer to downtown, in Near North community area, but the other 45 took place in Lakeview, and the prospect of not having a parade in Boystown just seems... wrong. In fact, I'm confident that the proposal would have caused a much larger backlash if the two aldermen weren't openly gay.
This year, the security has been beefed up significantly, and new restrictions on public drinking were put in place. For now, the jury is still out on whether or not it worked, but I suspect we'll know in a couple of days.
For now, I wanted to talk about the parade itself.
Belmont 'L" station tended to become completely impassable during Pride Parade. This year, the CTA decided to cut its losses and just close it entirely, forcing people who weren't already doing the smart thing and using other 'L' stations to find alternative ways to get there.
Which is probably why the crowds at Addison 'L' station were a bit larger than I remembered.
One thing that surprised me was how many merch hawkers were along the parade route. There have always been some - they are an inevitable part on any large Chicago event - but I didn't think I've ever seen that many.
As I got closer to Addison/Halsted intersection, it was clear that emergency services were very much ready to go.
And here's what the parade route looked like about 15 minutes from its official start time.
I was surprised that crowds actually weren't that bad, by Halsted Street standards. You could actually walk in both directions and still have some room to walk. That is quite an achievement.
One of the main rules of Chicago Pride Parade (other than 'have fun,' 'be safe' and 'be yourself') is Always be Hydrating. So it was nice to see Salvation Army handing out free water and lemonade.
As always, pretty much everybody who lived along Halsted Street took advantage of their apartments/condos' vantage points.
And invited people to share in the fun
Some parade watchers took impromptu celebrations to nearby streets
I decided to find a spot near Replay. I managed to sort of finangle my way in the front row and waited.
Having marched in the parade, I knew that, even though it started at noon, it would be some time before it reaches Boystown. And sure enough, it wasn't until 2015 that we saw the police escorts
The sanitation workers (who got enthusiastic applause)
And the beginnings of the parade itself.
The first person in the parade? Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, walking around and shaking hands with people (he didn't shake mine).
At this point, I should say that I took lots of pictures - in part because my mom couldn't be there and asked me to be her eyes and ears (and then acted shocked when I told her how many pictures I actually took ;) ). There is no way to put them all here. Too much copy-pasting of embed codes. At times like this, I wish Flickr still had a function that let you post entire sets directly to Livejournal. But since that's not an option anymore... I'm going to stick to highlights. You can see the rest of the set starting here, or just click through the complete set.
Or, alternatively, just click through the slide show
But if you're still sticking me for now - in (mostly) chronological order, here are the a few highlights.
Scouts for equality
Kids from Nettelhort School
Chicago City Council's LGBT Caucus, a first for the parade. As I've written before, during this year's municipal elections, the number of openly gay aldermen increased from 3 to 5 - enough to form a caucus.
Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who lost the mayoral run-off (and, as I mentioned before, was endorsed by Windy City Times, Chicago's only surviving LGBT newspaper)
These days, it's pretty common to see local Democrat politicians (who aren't South Siders) at the parade. Republicans such as US Senator Mark Kirk are a bit rarer. Though, in fairness, Kirk has long positioned himself as a moderate on social issues
Dykes on Bikes - a group of motorcycle riders that has become one of the most quintessential parts of the parade
And then, there were Bikes and Mics - a newer organization that came to the parade as some mix of steampunk...
...and Mad Max: Fury Road cosplay
Folia Brazil Carnival
Openly gay heads of Chicago area colleges and universities
The timing of the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision didn't really give the marchers' much time to do anything to react to the news. Didn't mean that some didn't try. Mostly, it was a bit haphazard
But some, like Balloons for Tommy, went for something a little more elaborate
But it was Lambda Legal, the most prominent LGBT legal organization, that was really on the ball
For those who don't know - these are portraits for Supreme Court judges that ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage nation-wide
And, of course, I would be remiss not to include photos from some other parade regulars. The LGBT-welcoming churches
And PFLAG - a nation-wide organization of parents, friends and allies who support lGBT individuals.
The parade didn't entirely without incident. At around 1:45 PM, there was an about 17-minute pause as the parade seemingly came to a halt somewhere near Addison/Halsted intersection. Turned out that a group of protestors staged a die-in. Per Chicago Sun-Times
Spokesperson Page May said the eight held the center of a multi-layered, circle-shaped protest for about 17 minutes before they were physically harassed by “a lot of Pride people.” They were then arrested and told they would only be cited but were being jailed, May said.
The group was protesting to “bring attention to issues that have received marginal attention in lieu of marriage equality,” including violence against the transgender community and homelessness of LGBTQ youth, according to a statement.
The group went a bit more into their motivations on their blog.
After the parade resumed, I kept watching for about half an hour or so, until I started to feel woosy. Remember the "Always be Hydrating" bit? I didn't bring any water with me, and I would up paying the price.
I ducked inside the bar where Vlad worked.
I talked to Vlad a bit and passed on the messages, but he was pretty busy. Mostly, I just sat on the patio, drank plenty of water and tried to recover
About half an hour later, I felt well enough to head out for a bit. As I headed out, Vlad introduced me to the assistant managers.
"This is my brother, Igor," he said. "He doesn't drink at all, so if he stops by, give him a cranberry juice."
"Is this your first time at Pride?" one of the managers asked.
"Oh, he's been going since I came out," Vlad said. "That's what - either years?"
"Nine."
While I watched the parade a bit more, ultimately, I didn't feel like sticking around. And I was starting to feel hungry. But, since Replay is on the east side of the parade route, there was no way for me to reach the 'L' unless I went all the way up to the where the route started.
One odd thing I came across was a street musician. The musician himself wasn't odd - it was that he decided to play during Pride Parade, which is pretty infamous for all the loud music coming from the floats. Yet the guy did actually seem to earn some money.
As I got closer and closer to the parade starting point at Broadway/Montrose intersection, I realized that I was seeing the final parade floats. Which wasn't too surprising - the parade was moving in the opposite direction I was. But I never actually seen the tail end of the parade before.
By that point, the city workers were starting to take barricades apart. I could've crossed the street at any point, but my instincts pushed me to keep walking until I reached the parade starting point.
Turned out, BP set up a party spot at the gas station right at the southwest corner of Broadway and Montrose.
Where people could get stickers, write what Pride means to them, and put them on the display board.
But what really drew my attention was the music coming from another corner of the gas station.
As I written before, I love dance music. I can count the number of times I've been to clubs with one hand, and my position on drugs is pretty well-recorded. But what makes dance music great is its power to send your emotions on a rollercoaster, to get you up and moving.
I couldn't resist. I joined the dancers. Little kids, high schoolers, college kids, older adults, even some middle-aged women. Black, white, Hispanic and Asian. Gay, straight and trans. Just dancing.
It was beautiful.
I was still dealing with after-effects of overheating, so I couldn't dance for long. But I enjoyed every second I did. My only regret was that I didn't take any video, because the photos really don't do it justice.
And so, I headed out to get some food. But not before pausing to write something on the display board.
"My brother, who can finally get married anywhere, if he wants to."
Outside, a woman was playfully griding on a cop while her friends took pictures.
And, as I headed north, I watched as the clean-up work already started.
As I said earlier in the post, the jury is still out whether the Pride Parade will be forced to relocate. For now, I just want to enjoy the good memories.
Until next year. One place or another.