As city officials and others craft an effective response to the coronavirus pandemic, decisions about various LGBT Pride events in June still loom.
Whichever decisions City officials and event organizers reach will have serious implications, both for public health and local commerce. LGBT businesses in Lakeview, most of whom are taking serious financial hits as the pandemic and subsequent isolation orders unfold, would be impacted even further without Pride celebrants.
Pride Parade Coordinator Tim Frye told Windy City Times that organizers are still assuming a June 28 date for the Parade, but communication with City officials on the matter has been minimal recently as their attention has been focused on the the immediate coronavirus response.
Executive Director Kevin Richards of Northalsted Business Alliance said that a decision about his organization's Pride Fest celebration will be coming in the weeks ahead.
Organizers of the Pride in the Park celebration, which launched in Grant Park in 2019, announced that their event was "on hold" until 2021: "Because the health and safety of everyone attending and involved with the festival is our first priority, this is the best course of action due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic at this time," they said in a statement.
Various organizers in other cities meanwhile announced the week of March 30 that they'd be forming an online "Global Pride" celebration taking place June 27.
The event will "use online platforms to deliver a Pride in which everyone can participate, wherever they are in the world. It will include musical performances, speeches, and key messages from human rights activists," said organizers in an April 1 statement. "The event will be live-streamed, and people will be invited to join in the event from home."