'It started out with many trans women of color, a political protest and it's been whitewashed and mainstreamed.' 'The real purpose was to take a moment to explore what pride is today with what its creators meant for it,' May said. at Halsted and Addison streets, stopping the parade procession for 17 minutes, according to one of its organizers, Page May.
One group of 50 parade participants wearing shirts that read 'Black Out Pride,' however, took issue with what they perceived as lack of diversity in the parade and conducted a 'die-in' protest.
'We are an amalgam of a lot of people, not only in the world but in the country and the city.' 'We are young, old, black, white, brown, politicians, apolitical, religious, not religious,' Pfeiffer said. This year's theme, 'Color our world with pride,' was meant to highlight the diversity within the LGBT community, Pfeiffer said. 'I feel bad for those before us who didn't get to see this moment,' said Terfling, 53, of Rogers Park. 'It's the turning point for the modern-day LGBT rights movement,' Pfeiffer said.ĭonnie Terfling and his partner Russell Elenz, 57, who remembered when the parade drew 10,000 to 15,000 people in the 1980s, lamented that many of their friends who they lost to the AIDS crisis would not be able to see the massive crowd this weekend, or enjoy the benefits of Friday's Supreme Court decision.
