The premiere Pride Month event in McHenry, County, Illinois.
If it’s June it must be LGBTQ+ Pride Month even in McHenry County, Illinois. We were late to the party out here in the Northwest Chicago metroplex boonies but made up for it in enthusiasm. Yet after years of steady gains and acceptance the celebration and the celebrants are under a cloud as MAGA fueled backlash emboldens would-be oppressors.
Before the weather Sunday turned ugly a couple of hundred people strolled leisurely through downtown Crystal Lake or watched on sidewalks lining Williams Street.
On one hand my hometown held its first ever public Pride Month event on Sunday, June 2, the Downtown Crystal Lake/Main Street Pride Walk & Social. Spurred on by some local Gay small business owners and downtown merchants willing to tap into merchandising opportunities, the event had the whole-hearted support of Mayor Haig Haleblian who also endorsed an official city Pride Proclamation. Haleblian has been cautiously supportive of diversity and inclusiveness being careful not to go to far and stir the wrath of a considerable block hard core conservatives and MAGA voters. The march down Williams Street—the city’s main drag—to the Depot park where a small with venders, businesses, and community organizations was deliberately modest and “family friendly” compared to the extravaganza up Route 14 in neighboring Woodstock. No floats, vehicles, bands, and perhaps especially drag performers, just folks ambling down the streets carrying a few flags and hand lettered signs. A couple of hundred folks may have participated on a cool day before a cold rain sent most scattering from the park.
On the other hand, County Board Member Lou Ness who sponsored County’s Pride Month Proclamation last year, declined to even bring one up this year due to the board’s lurch to the right as Republicans scramble to court Trumpistas in the party. Even last year, her proclamation was watered down. This year the board majority tipped it hand when they removed the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion from an innocuous Women’s History Month proclamation. Firebrand Terri Greeno of Crystal Lake charged that the language was the “dogma of the far left” and “straight out of the Communist Manifesto” which is clear that she never read even in the Cliff Notes version. The same attacks were inevitable to a new Pride Proclamation and cowed supposedly moderate Board members won’t defy the howling mob. A debate would also lead to hurtful slanderous attacks on transgender youth and their parents, drag queens, and popular children’s books in libraries.
Despite the whiff of oppression in the air, Pride Month activities fill the calendar across the County. The biggest of all will be the Woodstock Pride Fest and parade this Sunday, June 11 beginning at 11 am on and around Woodstock Square. The original brain child of Crystal Squires, the young mother of a gender non-conforming child, gathered volunteers and supporters to stage the first Pride Fest in 2019. It was wildly successful, drawing huge crowds to a community with a reputation for homophobia. 2022 was largely a wash out due to the Coronavirus pandemic and last year a day-long cold rain held down attendance. It also came in the midst of a Drag Queen show panic that made celebrants more defiant than the usual exuberant party.
This year the long range forecast call for a relatively comfortable partly cloudy day with highs in the upper 60s but no rain. The urgency of national attacks on hard fought gains and freedoms will likely insure crowds with a militant attitude.
In addition to a full program on the Gazebo, the fest will have numerous vendors and information booths, plenty of swag giveaways, and children’s activities. Many churches and religious organizations will participate in the parade and have tables. Among them, the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation from McHenry which will also conduct its Sunday morning services led by Chaplin Dave Becker at the Festival.
Woodstock Pride is also sponsoring several other events this month including an on-going Art Exhibition at Stage Left Café and Warp Corps, Lesbians Eating Quiche at Faith Community United Church of Christ Friday at 6:30 pm, a Rainbow Fun Run at 9 am Saturday, and a Pride Pub Crawl beginning at 6 pm that evening, and the Pride Promenade through the streets and neighborhoods of Woodstock on Saturday, June 8th and Sunday, June 9th from Noon to 5 pm.
Other local communities, schools, and libraries are also planning activities this month. Check out your local calendars.
No comments:
Post a Comment