On Sunday thousands of people gathered in Uptown for the 48th annual Pride Parade, but the festivities were halted for about 15 minutes at the intersection of Belmont and Halsted by a group of 40 protesters. They’d formed a circle, hand in hand, and prevented other marchers from passing. They wore bandanas that read “Black Trans Lives Matter” and held large papier-mache heads of Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and a unicorn, each affixed to a stick.
In a statement subsequently released by the collective, they denounced the “ever-increasing corporatization, whitewashing, gentrification, racism, and cisnormativity” of the parade and detailed their grievances and political commitments. They declared their support for anticolonial struggles; the abolition of police and prisons; sanctuary and amnesty for all undocumented people; and they announced they would be holding a Trans Pride celebration, in June 2018, as an alternative to Chicago Pride.
When asked to respond to those who might criticize having police march in the parade, he conceded that for some people it might be intimidating, but “we are here in unity,” he said. “We are not only here to protect all the attendees but also to participate and show that we do care.”
One of the protest’s organizers, Vita Cleveland, a 28-year-old with Black Lives Matter Chicago and BTGNC Collective had something to say to Pride Parade supporters like Hickson. “If they live in a world where they alone can be comfortable, then they’re missing the point,” Vita said. “If they can live in a world where pipelines are being . . . sponsored by banks that are in this parade, and weapons manufacturers . . . and police officers . . . then at some point they have to realize they’re subscribing to colonialism and they’re subscribing to a bastardization of what Pride is meant to be.”
Stephanie Skora, 23, who helped organize the disruption at the parade on Sunday, was also directly involved with the Dyke March controversy. Skora, who is Jewish, says she, along with some Dyke March organizers, spent a long time talking with the individuals who were ultimately asked to leave, explaining that if they no longer displayed the flag they would be free to continue marching. They refused and were then told to leave the march, she says.
