Historian Marie Kuda recently sent me the following e-mail.
"Karlos Streips erred in his comment re. Pride Parades, that Jane Byrne became the first mayor to take part. In fact, Jane Byrne rode as a politician in three gay and lesbian pride parades after leaving office. Harold Washington was the first Chicago mayor to speak at the gay and lesbian pride rally at the end of the parade, but I believe ... that Richard Daley was the first Mayor to ride in the parade while in office; this was his first before he started spending Sunday with his family and skipping the parade all together."
Ms. Kuda is correct, and here's the timeline with some background on the events of those years:
1981
The 12th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade was the biggest yet, with police estimating 8,000 people participating, and another 17-18,000 watching. Because of the size of the parade, the police for the first time blocked off both sides of the street. Up until now the parade was designated one side of the street; although it usually spilled over.
This was also the first year a Chicago mayor officially recognized the annual event. Mayor Jane Byrne designated the day as Gay Pride Parade Day. As a part of the Pride celebrations, Tricia Alexander and Lori Noelle were voted Entertainers of The Year, and Gay Horizons' Joe Loundy and Lee Newell were presented with an award for Organization of the Year.
1983
A record number of entrants participated, with 92 businesses, organizations, and individuals officially entering the parade. There were an estimated 40,000 people watching and 10,000 participants. Former Mayor Jane Byrne was on the march, riding in her daughter Kathy's convertible.
At the rally, when Richard Pfeiffer mentioned that Mayor Harold Washington was unable to attend because he was out of town on, there was a chorus of booing from the crowd. Featured speaker Harley McMillan, executive director of the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic, focused on the AIDS crisis, although he only mentioned the word AIDS once.
1985
This was the year the Lincoln Park Spectator published pictures of the Pride parade under the headline: "Above The Fruited Plain." The Sun-Times wrote a fair-minded article, but for the second year running the Chicago Tribune ignored a gathering of 50,000 people in New Town. There were 120 parade entrants and Mayor Harold Washington spoke at the rally afterwards. The Trianon bar won the the Best Overall Float award, with other prizes going to the Baton ( Business ) ; Windy City Gay Chorus ( Organization ) ; Hunter's ( Best use of Pride theme..."Alive With Pride" ) ; and Rod's ( special judge's award ) .
A group of Nazi's masquerading under the name of "Christians for Decency" demonstrated against the gay parade at the south end of Lincoln Park, as they did in 1982.
1986
Thirty members of the KKK spouted anti-gay sentiments in the free speech area of Lincoln Park, while Mayor Harold Washington reaffirmed his commitment to gay and lesbian rights at the parade rally. He said, "As a Black man who has suffered discrimination ... as part of a race of people who have suffered ... I am not about to let discrimination exist as long as I'm the mayor of this city."
In addition to Chicago's three gay choruses, the crowds were entertained by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles and the Fest City Singers from Milwaukee.
1988
This year the parade was notable for the absence of acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer, who failed to turn up as promised; he was at a meeting of the Masons on the South Side. There was a record crowd of 90,000 people and 140 entries. Leading the parade from Halsted and Grace was the Rightfully Proud float, followed by members of the Lambda Car Club. The parade took an hour and a half to pass by, and the most popular entries with the crowd were PFLAG and Paris Dance's All Girls' Kazoo Band.
Prizes went to Nationwide Video for the Best All Around Float, Berlin ( Business ) , and the NAMES Project ( Best Organization ) .
1989
Mayor Richard Daley became the first sitting mayor of Chicago to march in the Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Although he started out riding, his car overheated at Broadway and Belmont, and he walked the rest of the way. Asked why he was marching in the parade, Daley replied, "I am the Mayor for all Chicago." Daley didn't speak at the rally.
Providing rally entertainment were the street theater group Wizard of A.I.D.S., and the rock group Women of All Sexes. There were also after-the-rally parties, the most notable being Horizons Community Services fundraiser at Clubland which included performances by The Weather Girls and Linda Clifford.
Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times. You can leave a message on his voicemail at ( 773 ) 871-7610. He interviews over the phone, in person, e-mail sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com
WHAT A
DIFFERENCE
A GAY MAKES
Sept. 15-21
1997
U.S.: Gay.Net, the gay online community, announces that it will offer free accounts to college students anywhere in the world. * In & Out starring Kevin Kline is in movie theaters. In makes $15.3 million in the first week. * The classic lesbian-themed sports film Personal Best is shown on HBO. * Elton John tells a TV audience that he'll never perform "Candle in the Wind" again...neither the "England's Rose" version he sang for Princess Diana, or the original for Marilyn Monroe. * Gay author Edmund White tells The Advocate: "If gay life meant just reproducing straight life, I'd rather become a monk." * U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, and Al Gore are among those appearing at the NGLTF Honoring our Allies event in Washington, D.C.
1992
U.S.: Under the threat of being "outed," John Schlafly, the 41-year-old son of right-wing homophobe Phyllis Schlafly, reluctantly "comes out" in the San Francisco Examiner, but still defends his motherís campaign for "family values." * The Christian Action Network produces a TV commercial, featuring scenes of leathermen shouting at the New York Gay Pride Parade. Over the images, a narrator says: "Bill Clinton's vision for a better America includes job quotas for homosexuals, giving homosexuals special civil rights, allowing homosexuals in the Armed Forces." * Sweden: The Disney Company cancels an appearance by the group Erasure on the The Disney Club. Marianne Cuttleson, a spokesperson for the group, says: "Disney Club said their image was too clean to have a gay band on. If they don't want the number one band in Sweden on, then tough shit. It's their loss, not ours. It's so stupid." * Britain: Two members of the Irish People's Liberation Army walk into the gay Waterfront Pub in Belfast and say: "We have a bomb for this queer pub." One of the men, armed with a handgun, orders the 200 customers out. The bomb explodes three minutes later. Jim Murtagh, the owner of the pub, says: "The scum who did this were clearly trying to kill gays."
1987
U.S.: On his tour of the U.S., Pope John Paul II calls for compassion for people suffering with AIDS, but everywhere he goes he is met by demonstrations. In San Francisco people hold up signs: "Curb Your Dogma" and "I've Got a Ring the Pope Can Kiss." * At a small downtown gay-rights march in Dubuque, Iowa, participants are pelted with eggs, garbage and sticks, while police stand by and do nothing. * Before Stonewall: The Making Of A Gay And Lesbian Community wins two Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
1982:
U.S.: The Oklahoma Supreme Court awards custody of two 11-year-old boys to their divorced gay father, ruling that homosexuality is not grounds for ruling someone unfit to bring up children. * In Anchorage, Alaska, partygoers at a dance, sponsored by a local gay group, evacuate the Sheraton Hotel ballroom, after an unidentified man tosses a canister of tear gas into the crowd. * Columbia: In Bogota, the country's first national gay organization, Instituto Lambda de Colombia, is formed. * Switzerland: Swiss jeans manufacturer Rifle Inc. slaps up posters advertising their product. The poster shows a nude man from behind, his hips being grasped by two hands, that are obviously 'not feminine.' After complaints from the public, the posters are removed. * Britain: At a party to promote the book Homosexuality In Renaissance England by Alan Bray, a fight breaks out as non-gay drinkers from a nearby pub attack the partygoers, sending two of them to hospital.
