Tag Archives: Chicago Pride

BREAKING: NYC Pride and Chicago Pride Parade’s Disrupted By QPOC Activists – Video

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Both the NYC and Chicago Pride Parade’s were disrupted this afternoon while small handfuls of alt-Pride  activists from Black Lives Matter, GetEqual, No Pride, No Justice, and Trans Liberation Collective blocked the parade routes.

Arrests were made after multiple warnings in New York City after the protesters who were marching in the parade suddenly sat down in front of the Stonewall Inn and refused to remove.

We will keep you updated as more details are released.

 

*UPDATE: 1
According to Gothamist an total of 12  protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

 

NEW YORK CITY PRIDE

 

CHICAGO PRIDE

 

The Chicago Protest’s Demands were as follows:

1. We call for divestment from gentrification, displacement, and white cis supremacy!

The same forces which violently forced our ancestors out of their own movement are still at work, creating a celebration of queerness that is inaccessible by all but the most privileged of trans and queer people. When queer celebrations uphold the violent systems of gentrification and segregation in Chicago, echoing racist practices of redlining that have shaped the human geography of this city, queer revolution is impossible. We rise in solidarity with coalition member Pilsen Alliance, who are working to end economic and environmental violence where the most vulnerable communities in Chicago are being pushed out, schools are being closed, and families are being separated—thanks to Danny Solís and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s real estate developers. We denounce the racist, transphobic, ableist, and exclusionary policies and practices of white, cis gay organizations like Center on Halsted, Howard Brown, Equality Illinois, and other organizations that prioritize North Side services and wealthy bodies over Black and Brown trans people.

2. We rise in solidarity with Palestinian liberation, including the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions!

The Chicago Pride Parade has a long history of allowing organizations that engage in pinkwashing–the promotion of Israel’s supposed positive record on LGBTQ rights as a means to distract from their brutal crimes against Palestine–to participate in the Parade. The presence of groups like A Wider Bridge, Stand With Us, and the Israeli Consulate General dishonors the legacy of the trans women of color who galvanized our movement. As an explicitly anti-Zionist collective leading an explicitly anti-Zionist coalition which includes Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian organizers, we reject any celebration of the illegal Israeli state in the Chicago Pride Parade. Trans and queer people will not be used as the propaganda for a genocidal, settler-colonial state, in an attempt to spread racist and Islamophobic tropes about Palestinian culture. Pinkwashing, Zionism, settler-colonialism, and genocide have no place in queer struggle. As a coalition, we proudly join the calls to free Palestine!

3. We rise in solidarity with anti-colonial movements, from Puerto Rico to Standing Rock, and beyond!

Trans liberation necessitates the liberation of all peoples, and especially indigenous peoples. We honor the legacy of Sylvia Rivera, a Boricua trans woman as we resist all forms of colonial occupation and US imperialism, both in Chicago and around the world. We remember Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, an indigenous trans woman murdered this year, and recognize that indigenous peoples will be the leaders in our movements as we continue to proliferate ways of celebrating ourselves that transcend binaries, and protect the natural environment. We denounce the participation of banks and corporations in the Chicago Pride Parade that contribute to the genocide of indigenous people, the continued investment in DAPL and other oil pipelines, and the debt crises in oppressed communities across the planet. The Trans Liberation Collective and all members of our coalition demand Puerto Rico’s colonially-created debt be forgiven, that all stolen lands be returned to indigenous peoples, and advocate self-determination for all colonized communities as we fight to protect our planet!

4. Stonewall and Compton’s were anti-police riots! We reject the insertion of law enforcement into queer struggles, and demand the city of Chicago immediately move toward disarming, disbanding, and abolishing all police and prisons!

The police are not now, and have never been, a friend of queer and trans people, especially queer and trans people of color. For far too long, police have intentionally harassed queer and trans people, arresting us on assumptions and false charges, terrorizing our communities, and criminalizing our very existence. Hosting the Chicago Pride Parade in the heavily-policed neighborhood of Boystown–and relying on the labor of incarcerated people to clean up afterward–is a testament to the event’s lack of commitment to Black and Brown communities. We rise in explicit solidarity with coalition member Black Lives Matter Chicago in calling for the immediate abolition of police and prisons, including the practice of solitary confinement. The brutality of the Chicago Police Department, and the cowardly, conniving racism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel have shown us again and again that abolition is the only answer. Chicago does not need police; it needs better infrastructure, public schools, free health services, and shelters specifically for trans and queer people, especially trans and queer elders and youth.

5. We demand sanctuary and immediate amnesty for all undocumented communities!

Undocumented queer and trans folks are some of the most vulnerable in our community. We demand that the safety of undocumented immigrants be ensured through immediate amnesty. Furthermore, we denounce the actions of both current and previous administrations in perpetuating the state of political violence that has led so many refugees to seek safety in the United States, where they are forced to confront the xenophobic and racist policies in place. We demand that ICE be dismantled, and that the funds used to imprison undocumented people be channeled back into immigrant communities. No borders! No walls! No prisons!

6. Trans people are the vanguard of the queer liberation movement. We demand more resources, facilities, funding, and access for Black and Brown trans people in Chicago!

We demand better education on trans issues, beyond just pronouns, and that trans educators be paid to do this education. We demand jobs for all trans people, who are systemically underemployed due to transphobia, especially in organizations that claim to work for queer and trans causes. We demand access to affordable housing, especially for Black and Brown trans people, trans elders and youth. We demand trans-affirming shelters to be established and fully funded, especially in the South and West sides. We need free, affirming, competent, and accessible healthcare, to offset the disproportionate poverty, lack of wellness, and HIV+ rates in the trans community–the result of decades of medical mistreatment and refusal. We demand a redistribution of funding from wealthy North Side schools to impoverished and underfunded schools on the South and West sides as a form of educational reparations. We demand an immediate end to the practice of charter schools in Chicago, and a use of those funds to invest in public schools with education and protections for queer and trans children. We demand the decriminalization of sex work, because sex work is real work, and deserves to be treated as such. We demand to be treated as human beings, with respect, dignity, and resources!

7. In the legacy of powerful trans women of color, we will be launching our own celebration for 2018!

Today, in the city of Chicago in 2017, we follow the legacy of disruptions before ours, and answer Sylvia Rivera’s call by announcing the reinstating of Chicago’s Trans Pride, to be held during June of 2018, co-sponsored by Brave Space Alliance, the Trans Liberation Collective, and the BTGNC Collective. We call on all trans people in Chicago, and especially all trans and queer people of color to join us in divesting from Chicago Pride, and joining us in 2018. Together we will make a new celebration in our own images, full of our own joy, pride, strength, resilience, and liberation.

Trans liberation means police and prison abolition! Trans liberation means resisting capitalism! Trans liberation means divesting from war, militarism, and colonialism! Trans liberation means protecting the environment and sharing resources!

 

Chicago Man Goes Missing After Pride

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find christopher

A man from Chicago has gone missing and his friends and family are doing all they can to find him and bring him home. Christopher Evans has been missing since June 30th and no one has seen him since leaving a pride event. According to the Facebook page dedicated finding Evans, a group of his friends are posting statuses on social media to get as much visibility as possible to find their friend. As of now, it is unclear if there are any indications of foul play surrounding this missing case, which is why it is imperative to find Evans as quickly as possible. Here’s the Facebook page mission statement:

find chrisWe are going to find our friend, Christopher Evans.

Missing from Chicago’s North Side: Christopher Evans. Last seen leaving Roscoe’s Bar (Halsted and Roscoe), heading East on Roscoe. He was last seen early Sunday morning, June 30 around 1:30 am. If you have seen this man, please please please contact his family and authorities ASAP.

Friends, fraternity brothers, and others: We are asking that you share this status and keep positive thoughts that Chris shows up safe and sound. A police report has been filed, and the investigation has already begun. The police will do their job, and we will do what we can on social media and by organizing neighborhood canvasing events if we have to.

One of Evan’s friends, Jack Geahan, has been giving update statuses involving what little information the police have been able to provide since being assigned to the case as the search continues for his good friend. He’s imploring that all signing up to provide as much information as possible:

Hi Everyone,

Having spoken to Chris’ family this evening and the detective assigned to the case, the best course of action for us to be able to help is going to be putting up fliers all over the area in the next day or two. If you are available tomorrow through Saturday for one (or more) flyer shifts, please fill out this form and indicate how you can help put up fliers. Sometime later this evening I will work on coordinating groups on places to meet up and to knock out different blocks in the area.

He hasn’t been found yet, but the best thing we can do now is just make sure the community sees his face and hopefully it will jar someone’s memory from that night.

And in this update Geahan asks friends and family to give the police a chance to do their job:

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for showing your support in finding Chris. He means a lot to so many people and it is just tearing so many of us apart to see him missing. I love seeing so much support across Facebook and the dedication so many of you are expressing to help find him. But for time time being, please please PLEASE sit tight.

What you’ve seen in shared statuses in the last 24 hours is what we know. The police have the police report from his parents, but the detectives haven’t even been able to sit down to talk to the parents. Those of us that were with Chris the night he went missing have collected everything that we know and have passed it along, and he is still missing. So many of us have ideas of how we can be effective, but the reality is this: we are not police, and we are being driven by our caring for finding Chris.

We have to give the police a chance to start looking. Give them a chance to do their jobs. Give them a chance to tell US what they need done; to tell US how we can help. Please stay tuned for more information as it comes in. Keep Chris in your thoughts, take a deep breath, stay positive, and share the status that has been seen by so many.

Thank you, and stay tuned.

If you have any information about Evans’ whereabouts please contact the Chicago police department in Boystown and follow updates on the Find Christopher Evans Facebook Page.

*Editor’s Note* When this story broke and we were alerted to the situation, sharing of the Facebook statuses, and due to the location where Evans went missing it was presumed that Evans was a member of the LGBT community when in fact he is straight, We apologize for any confusion on our part and are committed to Evans coming home safely. As a community that strives on bringing people together this can be an opportunity to reach out and help since this man went missing in a place we call home. So I ask that LGBT members in Boystown report any info to help. Let’s unite. 

 

Millions Celebrate At LGBT Pride Parades In San Francisco, New York, and Chicago.

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Millions of LGBT’s and our straight allies celebrated at Gay Pride Parades yesterday held in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities across the United States

In New York alone over a million marchers followed the lavender line painted on Fifth Avenue, with Cyndi Lauper and city’s first married gay couple, Connie Kopelov and Phyllis Siegel leading the parade as grand marshals.  Held one year to the day of same-sex marriage being legalized in New York state.

Mayor Bloomberg had a message to the rest of America before stepping off onto the parade route.: “The government should get out of your personal life.” (that is of course unless you want to eat sugar)

More than 300 groups marched down Fifth Avenue to the Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which is widely considered the start of the national gay rights movement

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In Chicago a record breaking estimate of 850,000 participants attended the parade that winds through the North Side including one of the city’s gay neighborhood of Boystown.

The event drew many public figures, including Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, along with families.

Chicago resident Carrie Roberts brought her two children, ages 5 and 6.

“The parade is a good expression of freedom and acceptance,” she said. “I thought my kids would enjoy it.”

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And at 42nd annual Pride parade in San Francisco on Sunday which culminated a weeks worth of festivities huge crowds lined Market Street for the celebration, which included everything from the Leather Pride contingent to some tail-wagging pups from the San Francisco SPCA  as loud sirens, flashing lights and countless rainbow flags and banners accompanied uniformed police officers, cheerleaders and politicians including  San Francisco’s Mayor Ed Lee who spoke at the city’s Civic Center — near the parade’s end-point.