LAKEVIEW — Chicago’s LGBTQ Pride Parade is set to make its return this October after being canceled last year by the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s Pride Parade will be held Oct. 3 as a kickoff to LGBTQ History Month, said parade coordinator Tim Frye.
Traditionally, the hugely popular parade is held on the last Sunday of June as a closing to Pride Month and a nod to the Stonewall Rebellion, which began June 28, 1969, and is largely considered a catalyst for the gay liberation movement. But the parade is being held later this year to give the city more time to bounce back from the pandemic, Frye said.
“We wanted to have as much time as possible for things to get better because you never know what will come up,” Frye said. “It’s also the beginning of gay history month, which I thought was a terrific lead-in to the parade.”
This year marks the first time the parade will be organized solely by Frye after his husband, Richard Pfeiffer, died in 2019. Frye said he hopes to incorporate a memorial for Pfeiffer into this year’s parade.
The city’s LGBTQ Pride Parade typically attracts more than 1 million people to Lakeview and Uptown for the festivities. Frye said he anticipates this parade to be similar to previous years’ celebrations.
“I really don’t anticipate that the parade will be tremendously different from years before — it’s just the date that’s changed this year,” Frye said.
Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.
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