The Chicago Pride Parade and others around the country celebrate the GLBTQ/Queer community’s ongoing struggle for Equity in America. They seek the “Liberty and Justice for All” promised in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Most Diverse and Inclusive Event
The Chicago Pride Parade held on June 30, 2019 was the most Diverse and Inclusive event I have ever experienced.
There were infants and seniors, and many, many, young people. Participants and observers were Black, White, Latinx, and more. There were straight allies: heterosexual women and men like my friend Nancy and me. And, for a change, we were in the minority.
You could see any form of sexual orientation and gender identity at the parade. There were Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Asexual, Questioning, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people.
This was THEIR parade.
AND they made Nancy, me and other allies feel completely included, at home, and loved. How often have you been a minority and felt that your status didn’t matter to anyone?
Being at the parade told the world that you support and celebrate the Queer Community.
That was all that mattered.
Showing Rainbow Love At the Chicago Pride Parade
Some participants wore T-shirts that identified their sexuality, sometimes graphically.
My friend Nancy Kohn came up from Indianapolis to see the parade. She wore a T-shirt supporting Pete Buttigieg. He’s the South Bend Mayor, Presidential Candidate and an openly gay man.
I wore a beautiful purple T-shirt. I received it from Judy Kaye, a friend and fellow DEI practitioner. The shirt has several messages in rainbow colors. The largest says: LOVE IS LOVE.
Mistaken Identity
Much of the diversity at the parade was invisible and/or easily mistaken: No one can see another’s sexual orientation, of course.
We instinctively assume or guess someone’s race and gender identity. These are the first two ways in which we humans categorize strangers. Some of those classifications will be wrong.
In its invisibility, the diversity of the parade was like that in the workplace. The inclusion was wonderfully different.
Affinity Groups Celebrated Diversity
There were affinity groups, e.g. “Dykes on Bikes,” that celebrated one facet of diversity or another.
There were far more floats sponsored by mainstream Chicago institutions:
- Chicago Blackhawks hockey team
- T Mobile Communications
- and many more
Even the Bud Billiken Marchers were there!
Black Chicago knows the Bud Billiken parade as the unofficial return to school kickoff event. It is sponsored by the Chicago Defender, the city’s Black newspaper since 1905.
Historically some members of the Black community, and particularly some members of the Black clergy, have been homophobic. This attitude has improved in recent years.
Seeing Bud Milliken Marchers in the Pride Parade was a remarkable affirmation that love is love.
More Pride Parades To Come
2019 was my first Pride Parade, and definitely not my last.
I plan to celebrate in Chicago next June, and perhaps elsewhere as well. I want to support my fellow humans in the Queer community, see more DEI in action, and feel more Rainbow Love.
Shalom. Salaam. Peace.
