Pride Week: Activist Gary G. Chichester on Keeping the Pride Alive

Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 20, 2023 - 8:54pm

CHICAGO – In a fulfillment of his destiny, gay activist Gary G. Chichester was Grand Marshall of the Chicago Pride Parade in 2022, to celebrate his consistent contribution to LGBTQ+ causes, including organizing and participating in the first Gay Liberation March in Chicago on June 27th, 1970. One year later in 1971, he helped put together the first Pride Parade.

Left: Chicago’s First Gay March, June, 27, 1970. Right: Gary Chichester & the Flag He Carried
Photo credit: File Photo/Gary Chichester

After helping to launch the Gay March and Pride Parade in its infancy, Chichester has seen it grow to be the most popular parade event in Chicago, drawing one million people to the Uptown and Boys Town neighborhood, as he proudly viewed … from his seat as Grand Marshall … what he had helped build so many years ago.

The Activist: Gary Chichester, Circa 1970
Photo credit: Gary Chichester

The gay scene of 1970 in Chicago was underground, with the riots and uprising of New York City’s Stonewall Inn only one year old. To honor that event, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago were the first cities to have gay marches in 1970. As the march became a parade in 1971, Gary Chichester became involved by co-founding the Chicago Gay Alliance that same year, which created the first gay and lesbian community center in the Windy City. Also on his resume was his ongoing activism through The Chicago Gay Health Project, the Gay Rights National Lobby, the NAMES Project, Strike Against AIDS and the City of Chicago’s Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues, among so much more. He was inducted in the Chicago LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame in 1992, and sits on its board of directors.

Chichester is a native Chicagoan, whose family lived in the Old Town neighborhood when he was born. Eventually he graduated from Maine East High School in suburban Park Ridge, the classmate of Hillary Rodham. He was radicalized early, participating in the Chicago protests in 1968 at the Democratic National Convention, where he was tear-gassed during the police riots.

As LGBTQ+ people are being made scapegoats once again by the right wing faction in this country, it’s important to remember the achievements of Gary G. Chichester, who struggled against a much more oppressive environment, and lived to celebrate it in all its glory. Using Gary as inspiration, we must continue to fight intolerance. Happy Pride.

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, Gary G. Chichester talks about what is happening now …

In a video excerpt from the interview, Gary G. Chichester on keeping Pride Alive …

The 2023 Chicago Pride Parade 2023 will kickoff at noon on Sunday, June 25th. For more information, click here. To access the Facebook Page of Gary G. Chichester, click here.