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And despite the postponement of the 2021 parade to October, Gary Chichester will be celebrating yet again on the date where he and his fellow activists made history.
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He was radicalized early, participating in the Chicago protests in 1968 at the Democratic National Convention, where he was tear-gassed during the police riots.Īfter helping to launch the Pride March and Parade – and helping to design the Chicago Pride Flag (see photo above) – Gary has seen it grow to be the most popular parade event in Chicago, drawing one million people to the Uptown and Boys Town neighborhood in 2019. Eventually he graduated from Maine East High School in suburban Park Ridge, the classmate of Hillary Rodham. Gary is a native Chicagoan, whose family lived in the Old Town neighborhood when he was born. The Activist: Gary Chichester, Circa 1970 He also recently was featured in the FX miniseries PRIDE, a history of LGBTQ+ civil rights from 1950 to now. He was inducted into the Chicago LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame in 1992. Gary also practiced activism through The Chicago Gay Health Project, the Gay Rights National Lobby, the NAMES Project, Strike Against AIDS and the City of Chicago’s Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues, among so much more. Photo credit: Rich Pfieffer/Gary ChichesterĪs the march became a parade in 1971, activist Gary Chichester became involved by co-founding the Chicago Gay Alliance that same year, which created the first gay and lesbian community center in the Windy City. Right: Gary Chichester & the Chicago Pride Flag Left: Chicago’s First Gay Pride Parade, June, 27, 1971. 1971 was the first permit-applied-for official parade, and the guy behind it is here to tell all about it, Chicago LGBTQ+ Hall-of-Famer Gary G.
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2021 marks the 50th Anniversary of the first official Gay Pride Parade in Chicago – the first “march” took place a year earlier in 1970, honoring the first anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising. CHICAGO – It’s Pride Week, ya all, part of Pride Month, culminating in the upcoming Pride Weekend … the more the Pride the better.