After downsizing the Chicago Pride Parade by capping it at 125 entries, the city has agreed to increase its size by 20%, while still removing three blocks from its route.
In a May 10 joint statement from city and parade organizers, officials said they’re allowing 25 more entries into the Chicago Pride Parade, bringing it to a total of 150 groups. Last year’s parade had about 200 entries.
At the same time, the city is removing the Uptown portion of the parade by shifting its starting point to the intersection of Broadway and Sheridan Road. The parade has traditionally started at Broadway and Montrose Avenue in Uptown.
The Chicago Pride Parade, set for June 30, will still start an hour earlier at 11 a.m., officials said in the press release.
The groups said the route’s change will allow for “major arterial and side streets to be open for safety vehicles and traffic access, and to provide additional opportunities for spectators to flow to the east side of the route.”
Jin-Soo Huh, chair of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, said the group is “glad we were able to get back some more entries,” but “disappointed” at the lack of transparency throughout the process.
“We don’t want anything to happen to our community without our community at the table, and we found out about this through the Windy City Times article,” Huh said.
The increased entry cap on the parade came after weeks of pressure from LGBTQ+ activists, elected officials and other leaders.
Members of the mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sent an open letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson on April 30 calling for a “full restoration” of the Pride Parade, while agreeing to its earlier start time.
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 simply a parade for us in the LGBTQ+ community,” Huh said. “It’s a celebration of our community standing up against oppression and being free to live our lives and be visible.”
The new joint statement touted a “collaborative effort” among the city and LGBTQ+ groups to reach the latest agreement. But leaders have criticized the city’s lack of transparency regarding these decisions, and questions remain about where they are coming from.
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), one of nine openly LGBTQ+ alderpeople on City Council, said the city did not consult the LGBT Caucus before making these changes. The city did not engage the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council either, Huh said.
“They didn’t talk to us at all,” Hadden said. “We were reading about things in the news and getting calls from community members and community organizations.”
Hadden still has questions about who is making the decisions about the parade, why LGBTQ+ groups weren’t included in the decision-making process and whether these changes will affect other summer events, she said.
The alderwoman has contacted Johnson’s office to express her concerns, but hasn’t gotten enough answers.
“I think this lands squarely on the administration at this point,” Hadden said. “Nothing happens without the mayor’s say, so what’s his say? It’s not fair to be at this point and not have answers to these questions.”
Representatives from Johnson’s office did not return requests for comment.
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th Ward), also in the LGBT Caucus, has stepped in to try and get some of these answers and communicate changes to the community, Hadden said.
Lawson told Windy City Times in April 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.”
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.
Community leaders have said the parade is just as important this year because it will demonstrate the city and state’s commitment to ensuring this is a safe space for LGBTQ+ people during a time when attacks against the community are on the rise.
“We’ve got a growing influx of community members from other places where people are losing their rights and access to health care,” Hadden said. “That’s one of the reasons why a Pride Parade in our region is so important.”
The Pride Parade’s organizers said in a statement that the group is now “focused exclusively on producing an exceptional experience.”
“We look forward to celebrating this cherished neighborhood tradition with our partners, allies and friends,” long-time coordinator Tim Frye said.