Organizers of Chicago's first transgender pride celebration are gearing up for the event, to be held later this month.
Transgender Gender non-conforming Intersex Freedom (TGIF) is scheduled for Sunday, July 29, in Union Park, 12-4 p.m., and is believed to be the city's first transgender pride event.
More than 20 groups have signed on to help with the event, according to local transgender activist KOKUMO who is the lead organizer of the event.
Kylar Broadus, founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition, will deliver the event's keynote address. Broadus made history last month when he became the first transgender person to testify before the U.S. Senate.
KOKUMO said that TGIF aims to put forth positive representations of transgender Chicagoans, who experience high unemployment rates and are disproportionately targeted by police.
"The reality in this city is unemployment and lack of education," KOKUMO said. "There is no space in Chicago and in the world really where Black trans women can create their own enterprise."
The theme for this year's event will be "enterprising from the margins."
According to KOKUMO, TGIF organizers aimed to raise $3,000 but exceeded the goal and raised approximately $5,000.
TGIF will feature a variety of performances, a speak-out, games and a picnic. The event will also serve as a clothing drive for the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois, KOKUMO said.
Performers will include the Youth Empowerment Performance Project, About Face Youth Theatre, Queer Choir, KOKUMO, KrisDeLaRash, El Ray and Mercedes Bonet.
While the first of its kind in Chicago, the 2012 TGIF will not be last trans pride, said KOKUMO. "I'm already ready for next year," she said.
More information is available on the TGIF Facebook page: www.facebook.com/events/377980595592397.