Caucus holds Love Fest

The Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus (CBGMC) held its sixth annual Love Fest at Jackson Park Aug. 29 rallying the area’s Black LGBT community around the issue of interdicting the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The five-hour event, which drew a crowd totaling several hundred in number, featured live entertainment and on-the-spot disease testing.

While much of the entertainment and testing options at Love Fest mirror what is offered by organizers of the city’s various Black Pride events, David Dodd, CBGMC’s communications committee co-chair, told Windy City Times that what separates Love Fest from the other Black gay festivals is that the gathering’s sole focus is halting the spread of HIV and other STDs in Chicago’s Black LGBT community.

CBGMC was founded five years ago by local activists concerned about the rate of STD transmission among area black and bisexual men. Text by Mason Harrison; photos by Anthony Galloway