(Chicago, IL, August 7, 2012) - Today Affinity Community Services (Affinity) announced that it will be joined by Lambda Legal in this year's Bud Billiken Parade— 19 years after Lambda Legal assisted in mediating negotiations between parade organizers and a black LGBT group after they were denied entry. Key members of the group, then known as The Ad Hoc Committee of Proud Black Lesbians and Gays, continued to work together, ultimately founding the organization now known as Affinity. The mediation was Lambda Legal's first action in Chicago after the opening of the Midwest Regional Office.
The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic was founded in 1929 and is the oldest and largest African-American parade in the United States. Its focus is to ring in the "back to school" season for Chicago's youth. This year's parade will happen on Saturday, August 11, 2012 at Martin Luther King Dr. & 39th St., and steps off at 10 am.
"Marching together with Lambda Legal means commemorating the beginning of a relationship between the black LGBT community and Lambda Legal," said Lisa Marie Pickens, Board President Emeritus of Affinity Community Services. "Black LGBT visibility in the Bud Billiken parade is very important - now more than ever, we are out, accepted, and greeted with cheers at the parade, and we look forward to sharing that joy with Lambda Legal."
In 1993 a group of out black lesbian, bisexual, and gay individuals wanted to bring visibility to LGBT people on the south side of Chicago and, working as The Ad Hoc Committee of Proud Black Lesbians and Gays, they submitted two applications to the Chicago Defender Charities, organizers of the Bud Billiken Parade. One application was typed, delivered on-time by messenger, and identified the group as LGBT. The other was handwritten, mailed later, and did not identify the group as LGBT. The second application was accepted. After several weeks of mediation by the brand new Chicago regional office of Lambda Legal and the new Chicago Human Rights Commission, the group was allowed entry to the parade. While Affinity has continued to regularly participate in the event, this will be Lambda Legal's first time marching in the Bud Billiken Parade.
"Lambda Legal is excited to stand with an organization whose work is very much aligned with ours," said Jim Bennett, Regional Director for the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal. "As we work to increase support, education, and services for the LGBT community and people living with HIV, organizations working towards equality need to stand together. It will be a great day for us to literally march towards equality with Affinity, and boost each other's visibility while doing so."
Affinity Community Services is a social justice organization that works with and on behalf of Black LGBTQ communities, queer youth, and allies to identify emergent needs, create safe spaces, develop leaders, and bridge communities through collective analysis and action for social justice, freedom, and human rights. For more information about Affinity, check their website, www.affinity95.org, or call 773-324-0377.