The Chicago Pride Parade's route could be scaled back this year amid a series of changes to the celebration that also include downsizing its number of participants by 37%.
City officials unveiled their proposal for the route Thursday during a closed-door Pride Parade planning meeting, said Jin-Soo Huh, chair of the mayor's Advisory Council on LGBTQ+ Issues.
Attendees were told the parade will start at the intersection of Sheridan and Broadway near Gill Park in Lake View, removing Uptown from the celebration's route, which has traditionally started a few blocks north at Montrose and Broadway, Huh said. City officials said at the meeting this will allow the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to staff at least 40 more officers in the evening hours after the parade, Huh said.
Anna DeShawn, founder of E3 Radio and a member of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, was also in the meeting and said this was the group's first time hearing about the proposed new route. DeShawn is concerned about the new starting point because the intersection is narrow and its nearest CTA station—the Sheridan Red Line stop—is not ADA accessible, she said.
"These are significant changes being made and we're just now being told," DeShawn said.
The proposal for a shorter parade route comes after its organizers were told in mid-March the city would cap its number of participants at 125 entries—a decision the city never consulted the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council on, Huh previously told Windy City Times.
"Now they're cutting the route, and this is another decision that's being made without our input," Huh said. "It started with the number of floats and the time of the parade, but now they're shortening the entire route."
This year's Pride Parade is shifting its start time an hour earlier to 11 a.m. from noon, which city officials previously said will allow the celebration to better align with CPD's shift changes.
`"We understand the concern about starting an hour earlier and have agreed to that, but we still call on the mayor to restore the Pride Parade to measures that are commensurate to year's past," Huh said.
Huh, DeShawn and other members of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sent an open letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson earlier this week calling for the Pride Parade to be restored to its traditional size. The letter was co-signed by various LGBTQ+ groups and businesses, including the parade's organizers, Equality Illinois, Howard Brown Health, Sidetrack, Brave Space Alliance, Pride Action Tank, The Association of Latinos/as/xs Motivating Action, E3 Radio, and Windy City Times.
"The Pride Parade is not just a celebration," Huh said. "It's not just a party for us. It's about us being present. This is us saying that we're tired of being suppressed as a community."
Chicago's first Pride Parade was held in 1970 to commemorate one year since the Stonewall Riots, an uprising among queer people in New York against the police after a series of raids on the Stonewall Inn, a now-famous gay bar.
City officials have given a number of reasons for downsizing this year's Pride Parade, including a city ordinance requiring parades to wrap up within two hours and 15 minutes. However, the ordinance has a clause that states exceptions can be made when a "traditional parade consistently has lasted longer and the commissioner determines that there is no traffic safety or undue congestion problem in continuing to allow the longer time period."
City leaders have also said the changes are being made due to limited police staffing and other resources that go into handling large events.
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th), who is one of nine openly LGBTQ+ City Council members and among the three alderpeople whose ward includes the parade's route, said the changes will help smooth shift transitions and ensure appropriate staffing levels at all times of the day. This includes the parade itself, the immediate hours after the parade and the late-night hours that day.
In recent years, crowds of teenagers have taken over streets in the late-night hours after the parade to party—something that was reported on by the Sun-Times in 2023. In 2022, three people were stabbed and another three were shot in Lake View during the late-night hours after the parade, according to Block Club Chicago.
"There is a need to keep the community safe all day," Lawson previously said. "The parade has its own atmosphere and footprint, and then there's the time immediately after the parade and different things happening late at night."
DeShawn said it seems like the decision to scale back the parade is stemming from what happens hours afterward in the neighborhood, but not about the event itself.
"There are two different things being discussed, and the parade shouldn't be affected because of what happens later on in North Halsted," DeShawn said. "I feel like that's a conversation for the Northalsted Business Alliance and the people in the Lake View neighborhood. It shouldn't affect the parade."
Other crowd management strategies being explored by the city include closing off North Halsted Street for a street festival immediately after the parade.
Kevin Barbeau, executive director of the Northalsted Business Alliance, did not immediately return a request for comment, but previously said leaders were "still in discussion-mode as to how/if it would occur."
As the Pride Parade is experiencing these cuts, Huh said questions remain on whether other parades and celebrations around the city are facing similar new restrictions.
Huh said the city needs to make sure that affected communities are at the table when these decisions are made.
"As the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, we have worked with police on their engagement protocols and with their LGBTQ+ liaisons, which has been great," Huh said. "We're here to work collaboratively, but we can't do that if we're not invited to the table."
DeShawn said she doesn't anticipate the parade being restored to its usual size without a directive from the mayor's office.
"This needs to come from the very top," DeShawn said.
Ald. Angela Clay (46th), whose ward includes the part of Uptown that could be removed from the parade, did not return a request for comment. Neither did representatives from the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Department of Transportation, which issues parade permits. PrideChicago, the organization that puts the parade together, also did not comment.
Restoring the parade to its usual size is important because it will demonstrate the city and state's commitment to ensuring this is a safe place for LGBTQ+ people, especially at a time when attacks against the community are on the rise in other areas.
"We are a beacon of hope in the entire country when it comes to inclusivity," DeShawn said. "What an awful time to decide to cut the Pride Parade. It does not seem to align with the moral and ethical fabric of what Chicagoans think should be happening."
This is a developing story that Windy City Times will update as new information becomes available.