Pride is back, but security concerns come with it in 2022 as large crowd expected to celebrate and also protest Supreme Court decision

Not since 2019 has Chicago seen a full-fledged Pride celebration, as the pandemic shelved the city’s massive parade and other festivities that draw hundreds of thousands to the North Side.

But with the 2022 version back on, the event is bringing with it fresh concerns, namely security fears surrounding anti-LGBTQ sentiment and having such a large crowd in a city that has recently struggled to keep big gatherings safe.

After 31 Patriot Front members were arrested near an Idaho gay-pride event June 11, concerns rippled across the country ahead of other celebrations this month. These worries have resonated with some Chicago officials, while many in the LGBTQ community said they are choosing to focus on the joy the festivities bring, and their ability to voice their concerns over threats to the right to same-sex marriage, underscored in Friday’s historic U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave states the ability to outlaw abortion.

At a June 13 news conference, Chicago’s police Superintendent David Brown said officers have shored up intelligence and have various plans to guard the Pride Parade and other festivities.

“We are going to be vigilant to ensure that this event, as well as others, go off safely,” Brown said. “And we’ll hold you accountable if you’re planning, if you’re doing anything to jeopardize the safety of others.”

Many said they are not letting worry creep in. Gary Chichester, who is being honored as the Legacy Grand Marshal in this year’s parade, expressed wariness of giving in to extreme worry. Chichester’s name was on the first Chicago Pride parade permit in 1971 and he is a board member emeritus for the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

“We can fight the baloney that is out there and the hatred coming down on the LGBTQ+ community,” Chichester said. “But we can’t let fear take over our minds. That’s when we start going backwards.”

It is unclear whether the high court decision could boost crowds even further as the event takes on more of a protest flavor. In a concurring opinion Friday, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the same principle applied to the abortion decision could apply to other cases such as the decision in Obergefell vs. Hodges, which gave same-sex couples the protected right to marry.

“While we’ve accomplished more than a lot of cities, there are a lot of forces at play trying to take those accomplishments away at a local level and in many other cities and states, as well as on a national level in our country,” Mark Liberson, owner of Hydrate Nightclub, Elixir Lounge and Replay Beer & Bourbon, and Pride Fest committee chair said before the decision was handed down.

“If you looked at the conservative Supreme Court we currently have, my marriage, for example, is secured under the same reasoning that provided Roe v. Wade,” he said. “The fear we have is that many of the rights that we enjoy currently are in danger.”

People visiting for Pride noted the change in the tenor of the event Friday. Jae Moyer, who was visiting Chicago from Overland Park, Kansas, for Pride with friends. They read about the ruling after breakfast downtown. “I had a panic attack. I tried not cry walking down the street,” Moyer said.

Concerns about a very large crowd began to grow stronger earlier this week when Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, sent a letter to Brown on Tuesday to request a larger police presence during the Pride weekend in Lakeview.

Tunney said he expected the parade to be the largest in Chicago history after the three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

“I am deeply concerned that the current staffing plans for the Pride Parade as outlined to me are insufficient for the size of the crowds the City realistically should be anticipating,” Tunney wrote.

He said he was “very troubled” by a large fight that broke out in Lakeview after Pride Fest around 3 a.m. Monday and that he “do(es) not want to see it repeated.”

Northalsted, previously known as Boystown, is lined with bars and nightclubs, and fights have broken out overnight when people spilled out into the streets.

When asked to respond to Tunney’s letter at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Brown said the department has added more staffing for this year’s parade and has had more coordination with businesses and stakeholders in the planning process than in previous years.

“We have no threats to Chicago’s Pride Parade, but we are, obviously, planning for the worst, hoping for the best,” Brown said.

Amin Jessani, commander of the 19th District, said at an earlier news conference that CPD has had meetings with local partners, business owners and the alderman over the past few months to ensure they’re all on the same page regarding safety.

“We will have additional resources along the route and afterwards for any festivities that happen,” Jessani said.

Still, despite the optimism of Brown and other police leaders for the event, the police department has come under criticism from experts and the city’s inspector general in its handling of large crowds in recent years. The department notoriously appeared uncoordinated at large protests and then overnight riots downtown in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police officer.

More recently, police have had difficulty controlling large gatherings of teenagers this year that have broken out in violence and even resulted in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old Seandell Holliday next to The Bean sculpture in May. The shooting promoted the city to ban unaccompanied minors from visiting Millennium Park after 6 p.m. from Thursday through Sunday.

At least one rally for LGBTQ rights was also threatened this year in March after bullhorn-wielding counter protesters became “aggressive” by yelling and pushing through the crowd, and the rally organizers cut the event short, saying they had safety concerns. The group gathered again in April at the Federal Plaza.

Chicago Pride parade event producer Tim Frye said the parade has had extra security for “quite some time” ever since the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016.

“I get a little bit bothered by all this conversation about Idaho,” Frye said. “I know of course it’s important, but at the same time, it kind of generates fear and I find that to be kind of disturbing.” He added that the parade has always been a joyous occasion.

Liberson, the event’s committee chair, said they normally employ extra security inside and outside his Northalsted bars during pride weekend due to the large number of people in the area.

Other businesses hire additional security as well. But for Liberson, this safety measure is no different from what it has been during pride in previous years.

“We recognize that the police are understaffed, but we’re hopeful that they will bring out significant presence to help ensure a safe and orderly weekend and parade that can be enjoyed by the millions of people that travel to participate,” he said.

The good news, he said, is that for the most part, problems are limited since most people are in a good mood and enjoying themselves.

Myles Brady Davis, director of communications for Equality Illinois, said the risks the LGBTQ community is exposed to extend beyond pride celebrations to their daily lives.

“The threat of violence is something that LGBTQ people face on a daily basis,” Brady Davis said. “Now that people are more aware of these harmful militia groups, people have been hypersensitive and paying closer attention.”

Nonetheless, Brady Davis said, the community is choosing to focus on the joy the pride celebrations bring, above anything else.

“We always look into the face of hope instead of the face of fear,” he added. “And the one thing about us coming together to celebrate is, in spite of all the hate, in spite of all the trauma that we might go through, there’s still a great deal of joy that needs to be celebrated.”

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