June is pride month for the lgbt+ community. Every year Chicago has a huge parade to celebrate this pride and it is always a huge deal for anyone in the community. This was the first year that I myself went to pride to support all my friends who are in the lgbt+.
We got to Chicago around 11:30 and the place was already packed with people down the streets. Everyone was in high spirits and ready for the parade to start. I went with three of my friends and we all had some sort of face paint on and colorful clothes, much like the rest of the crowd.
Once we settled in a place we started to people watch before the parade started. Let me tell you this is probably the best people watching I have done in a long time. We saw a guy with a baby mohawk that had purple fuzz balls all over his hair, a girl covered in glitter ranting how everyone needs more glitter and dumping it on her friends, some guy walking in a speedo with paint hand prints all over his chest, and we saw many people just being who they saw as their true selves.
As the parade started the crowds moved closer to the fences to get the best view and collect whatever the marchers were handing out. Mainly it was beaded necklaces, which I ended up with 12 at the end of the day. Sometimes it was candy or fans or anything rainbow. The entire time people were screaming and hollering and yelling 'HAPPY PRIDE' at the top of their lungs.
The marchers were just as good for people watching. You had some political groups trying to get the votes of the community. They handed out rainbow stuff with the initials of who they were trying to support, even sometimes the actual person marched with them which was cool. You also had transvestite floats and marchers, let me tell you that was a sight to see. They loved taking pictures with the crowd and their makeup was better than I ever dream mine to be. You also had churches matching to show their support, which was really cool to see people screaming how Jesus and God love us no matter what. I do have to say my favorite group was the parents. They walked with pride and had signs saying how they love their gay son or their transgender daughter.
All and all My Chicago pride was everyone embracing the fact that we are all human and accepting you for being you. Love is love and I say just let people be what makes them happy so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.
