With gender-variant people of nearly ever age and background represented, hundreds gathered in Union Park July 29 for Chicago's first ever transgender pride event.
Transgender Gender non-conforming Intersex Freedom (TGIF) featured performances and speeches and attracted more than 200 people who picnicked under sunny skies.
The event, themed "Enterprising from the Margins," focused largely on the stories and experiences of transgender people of color, both celebrating organizing efforts locally and honoring trans Chicagoans who died this year.
Among those honored were Lois Bates, a longtime activist and transgender health manager at Howard Brown Health Center and Paige Clay, whose unsolved murder in April made national headlines. Attendees also marked the names of deceased community members and living activists on large banners.
TGIF organizers stressed the importance of creating positive spaces for gender-variant people and allies.
"As a trans woman, we are shut out of the establishment," said KOKUMO, lead organizer of TGIF.
"They keep telling you to wait," said Alexis Martinez, another organizer. "My message is don't wait. Now is the time."
Keynote speaker Kylar Broadus, founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition, talked about the intersections of race and transgender identity, among other things.
"Living at the margins is what we do," Broadus said.
But Broadus drove home in the importance of personal pride and resistance.
"Politics is local, politics is you," he said.
TGIF also featured the voices of intersex people, whose marginalization as people who vary physically from standard definitions of male or female is rarely united with gender-variant issues.
The four-hour picnic featured an open mic speak-out, during which young people, activists and others took the stage.
The day wrapped up with performances by About Face Youth Theatre, the Youth Empowerment Performance Project, Statesqueer and KOKUMO.
Representatives from several community groups and projects were present including No Boys Allowed, Life Skills, the Chicago Dyke March Collective, Lambda Legal, the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois, Equality Illinois, Intersex Chicago, Inter/Act, We Happy Trans, United Latino Pride, Soy Quien Soy: Trans* Empowerment Collective, Black Trans Men Inc., Oak Park Public Library. The Illinois Department of Public Health's "Wellness on Wheels" van was also present. Free HIV tests were also given on-site.
KOKUMO said that overall the event went well, but added, "It'll be even better next year."
