On the morning of July 26, Brave Space Alliance (BSA) kicked off its second Annual Dignity Dash under cloudy skies and temperatures climbing toward 90 degrees.
The event launched at the AIDS Garden at 3003 N. Lake Shore Drive and trailed along the Chicago lakefront, welcoming over 150 participants who gathered to run, bike or walk the 5K course. The event’s goal was to raise money for services at Brave Space Alliance, 1515 E. 52nd Place., and fund its new Dignity Suite.
The Dignity Suite is a free initiative and combination of the gender-affirming services (make up, den, and QT shop) into one room, to both promote inclusivity and support the entire spectrum of gender expression. At the start of the run, BSA Development Manager Troy Taylor stated that $67,000 had already been raised.
In her remarks at the start of the run, new BSA CEO Nikki Patin said, “This year’s Dignity Dash, thriving through the finish line, is more important than ever. I’ve heard it said more than once how you start is how you finish. I think more than a few folks out here can tell you that’s a lie.”
She said, “Many of us start from behind more than hurdles. You know them all too well: every -ism and phobia, every system and institution and sometimes the voices inside ourselves whispering every pathetic reason why we should hate ourselves.”
She noted, “Gloriously, we clear the hurdles and question why they are even there in the first place. And that’s where you find your dignity, in the ability to first acknowledge, then question and clear the hurdles.”
Patin added, “To be on a journey with one’s own gender…to question it, to claim it, to embody it, to fuck with it, to step into it unapologetically is to be brave. Folks come to our Dignity Suite to make friends with the mirror, to find empathy and understanding, to be curious without being condemned. At heart, the Dignity Dash not only raises funds for services, but also gives us all an opportunity to show how you start is not how you finish.”
Sponsors for the Dignity Dash included Stonewall Sports, LGBTQ Athletics, Steamworks, Chicago Bowling League and Men’s Room.
