LGBTQ+ Chicagoans outraged as city imposes new limits on this year’s Pride parade

Lori Lightfoot, the first openly LGBT mayor of Chicago, marching in the 2019 Chicago Pride Parade. Lightfoot served as Grand Marshal of the parade.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Chicago officials going to reduce the scale of this year’s Pride Parade even more after already announcing an approximately 37% reduction in floats and performances.

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) recently revealed a proposal to reduce the length of the parade by a few blocks, which would eliminate the need for 48 officer posts, Block Club Chicago reported. The possibility has angered many in the LGBTQ+ community.

“We were obviously not thrilled to hear that,” said Jin-Soo Huh, chair of the LGBTQ+ advisory council to the mayor. “Even though it is only a proposal, our message is that this is a proposal that should have been done in consultation with the community. We’re still calling on the Mayor’s Office to restore the Pride Parade [to its original form].”

Huh said he had not even been told about the reduced number of entries allowed in the parade and had to learn about it from a Block Club report.

“That really caught us off guard,” he said. “As the mayor’s council, we hope that anything major like this affecting the LGBTQ+ community is brought to our attention and that we’re consulted about it. That’s our main function.”

The Chicago Pride Parade is one of the largest in the country. The changes—including an…

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