According to an article by by LGBT historian Sukie de la Croix, Mayor Daley II was the first sitting mayor to ride in the parade in 1989, his first year in office. Her successor, Mayor Harold Washington, spoke at the Pride rally after the parade in 1986. Mayor Jane Byrne issued a Gay Pride Parade proclamation in 1981. That started to change in the early 1980’s. Only a few hundred people attended these early parades and they received little official notice. The gay community continued moving north towards Halsted and Belmont over time, but Lakeview is still the focal point. The parade bounced between a few routes, mostly around Belmont Harbor and the intersection of Clark and Diversey. The parade moved up to the East Lakeview neighborhood in 1971. By all indications, the parade moved simply because the community itself was moving north again. The Pride Parade and Boystown Grow Up Together The Tribune noted that the rally in Daley Plaza ended with a circle dance around the Picasso. From there a small crowd marched down the Mag Mile to the Daley Center. The original parade went from Bughouse Square, right on the dividing line between River North and Old Town. The Chicago Pride Parade is the oldest in the world and has united the community for decades. There were other marches and rallies in San Francisco and Los Angeles that same weekend, but still. A year later, Chicago’s gay community held a rally and march on June 27, 1970. Here in Chicago, it inspired the first-ever pride parade. This pivotal event in gay history is seen as the start of the modern Gay Rights Movement. In June of 1969, the infamous Stonewall Riots happened in New York City. In the mid-20th Century it was most active in the River North and Old Town neighborhoods. This gay community has been moving north bit by bit over time. The gay community back then was centered in Towertown, which was the area around the Water Tower, where the historic Tree Studios made space for artists in the late 1800s. The World’s First Gay Pride ParadeĬhicago’s role in the Gay Liberation Movement didn’t stop with Henry Gerber, of course.
Indeed, two years ago the Gerber House was named a National Historic Landmark. Though the term wouldn’t be used for another half-century, this was the first instance of public gay pride in Chicago and the nation.
Nevertheless, the Society for Human Rights is a huge deal. The group subsequently disbanded and Gerber left Chicago after the charges were dismissed. Despite not having a search warrant, they raided Gerber’s home in Old Town, where the society was headquartered.
They regularly surveilled and harassed the gay community in Chicago for decades. Sadly, the Society for Human Rights was shut down only a few months after its founding due to a raid by the Chicago Police. So even being a subscriber could have led to arrest. The Comstock Act made it Federal crime to receive “obscene” material through the U.S. Even members of society were afraid to subscribe to its newsletter, Friendship and Freedom. The membership never mustered more than a few gay and bisexual men. Gerber was inspired by similar organizations in his native Germany and aimed to promote legal relief and social understanding for the gay community. Named the Society for Human Rights, it was founded by a German emigre named Henry Gerber in 1924. To be honest, I was blown away to discover that the first widely-recognized American gay rights organization was based in Chicago. The First American Gay Rights Organization Was Started in Chicago The Chicago Pride Parade is one of Chicago’s biggest parties.