The 42nd Annual Chicago Pride Parade treads off from the corner of Belmont and Halsted at noon on Sunday, June 26, 2011, and an immense amount of more than 450,000 people from the LGBTQ community and supporters are expected to be in attendance.
Although the Windy City is especially gay-friendly, discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community is constantly prevalent during Pride Week. It’s always better to be safe than sorry these days when going against the norm of what a close-minded society thinks is unacceptable and acceptable.
“I’ve been going [to the parades] since I was about 14,” says Andrew Martinez, 22, of Rogers Park. “I would have to say I’ve been to maybe nine of them, and generally what I enjoy most is having fun with my friends. Every year I run into people who I haven’t seen in a long time, old friends and exes.”
Most parades are often accompanied by eccentric costumes, melodic marching bands, artistic floats and large, colorful balloons. The Annual Chicago Pride Parade takes on more of a Mardi Gras-like disposition while following in the footsteps of conventional parades.
Risqué dancers, drag queens, amplified music, contests, barbecues and cookouts, information booths and an aspect dedicated to remembering and honoring victims of AIDS and anti-LGBTQ violence are a few of the festivities that take place each year.
“I’ve been going to the parade for the past three years or so, and I was actually in it twice,” says Jovan Sharp, 22, of West Side Chicago. “The first time I was in it I was with a gay youth organization. They had a float, and it was just a bunch of us on it having fun and going wild. The second time I was working with a modeling company called Pretty Boy Productions, and they had me handing out fliers for a Pride after party. I was wearing a wind-up key [on my back] and tighty-whiteys; it was rather interesting.”
Sharp says what he likes most about the parades is being around like-minded people who are celebrating being gay, and he hopes the lack of diversity comes to a halt very soon.
Although the Pride Parades are undoubtedly crowded with lesbian women, gay men, transgender people and bisexual people, the festivities and merriment are not restricted to the queer community.
“The percentage of straight males is very small, if any at all, because any heterosexual male I know is not typically comfortable enough in that environment,” Martinez says. “Straight females tend to be more comfortable, so I imagine the percentage of them in attendance is higher because they come to support their gay friends. It’s a big party, and surprisingly a lot of heterosexuals do come, and they have a good time.”
Martinez says his family always comes to the parade to support him, and they usually make it a family outing.
“I would have to say decent amounts of probably 30 percent of the people who come to the parade are heterosexual,” says Alex Johnson, 22, of Old Town. “Many come to support their friends and family, children, brothers and sisters, and the positive energy is great because of that.”
Society has come a long way since the days of Anita Bryant and the unforgettable Christian-based slogan, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” but many cultures don’t accept same-sex relationships. Instances of homophobia and protesting against the gay community can frequently be seen along the streets of the parade and at the end of its marching route.
“There are always encounters with protesters and church officials voicing their opinions on homosexuality,” Johnson says. “They are basically saying we’re all going to hell and we’re all sinners, and I usually just laugh it off.”
Sharp says “it never fails.” He has witnessed “people protesting right outside the police station on [Halsted and] Addison [who] are usually holding banners saying ‘Homosexuality is Sin.’ There are a few people along the [parade’s] route holding derogatory signs on top of that.”
Martinez has noticed parishioners and church advocates quoting bible scriptures who cover a good portion of the city block.
“They have their own little section at the very end of the parade to pretty much say what they have to say,” he says. “I’ve never really seen anyone get violent, but some of the words and things they say, I can’t imagine that people haven’t retaliated.”
With all the anti-gay opposition going on, Martinez says the support and advocacy present is greater than the amount of homophobia and violence during the parade.
According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety is considered to be the second most basic human need, and it is a necessity that everyone desires to feel. People yearn for personal security and protection, and at the Annual Chicago Pride Parades, the same concepts apply.
The Chicago Police Department on Halsted and Addison has its own float in the parade, and police officers often roam the streets of Boystown to ensure everything is kept in line and no hate crimes, gay bashing and gay-on-gay fighting occurs.
“Because large amounts of alcohol are consumed, the police are there to regulate, supervise, and make sure things don’t get too out of control,” Martinez says. “Because sometimes they do.”
The Pride Parade for many young men and women can be a first-time experience at a major social gay event, and being uncomfortable there can be overwhelming for them. The police force can almost serve as a security blanket, and it can let people know they’re in a safe environment.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many policemen in one day than on Pride,” Sharp says. “I understand that they are there to patrol the area and keep people safe, and they do a good job for the most part, but it feels as though they are looking for something to go wrong. I think it is madness, and the police tend to look at us like criminals.”
Harassment among LGBTQ community members at the Pride Parade is more common than outside of it. Being surrounded by a massive number of queers, only a bold, heterosexual fool would try and bash another gay on this day.
“I assume people could come just to be rude and disrespectful to each other for no reason,” says James Nemecek, 24, of downtown Chicago. “The only harassment I can think of that would go on is a bunch of young men getting into it because somebody’s boyfriend looked at another boy, and that’s how the fights would break out. Heterosexuals are really the minority on this day.”
With the warm summer weather approaching, the end of June 2011 will rejoice in more than 40 years of queerness. Hopefully the Chicago Pride Parades can continue to bring new faces to its celebrations and increase its attendance number as the years go by.
“If I can get on a float and be in the parade then I’ll probably go,” Sharp says. “However, if I’m not in it, I don’t think I’ll go. [There’s] just too many people who are drunk, and it gets too touchy-feely for me.”
“I might go to the parade this year,” Nemecek says. “I’ve never been to one, but I have heard good things and bad things about it. I’ve always wanted to see it, but I’ve always been kind of nervous, so hopefully this year will be different.”