What to know about Chicago’s 2026 Pride Parade: The Rundown
Good afternoon! It’s Friday, and Chicagoans can expect to switch from complaining about relatively cool summer temperatures to hot, humid conditions next week. Here’s what else you need to know today.
1. Here’s what to know about Chicago’s 2026 Pride Parade
This year’s theme, “Free to be Proud,” comes amid increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ communities across the nation — including in Illinois, largely considered a haven for queer people in the Midwest.
The parade will step off at 11 a.m. Sunday at North Sheridan Road and North Broadway, heading south on Halsted Street, east on West Belmont Avenue, south on Broadway and east on West Diversey Avenue to Sheridan to disband. (You can see a map of the full route in the link.)
Parking restrictions will begin at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Street closures begin at 7:30 a.m., and parade route closures will begin at 8:30 a.m., including Irving Park Road and Wellington Avenue at Broadway, as well as Addison, Grace and Roscoe streets at Halsted. All closures are expected to be lifted by 4 p.m.
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center will march at the front of the parade for its “tireless work in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood to dismantle homophobia and transphobia while integrating LGBTQ+ advocacy into the core of public health and housing justice,” according to parade organizers.
Behind them, the Chi-Town Dykes and Bike and Mics and the Lakeside Pride Music Ensemble will open the parade alongside the Community Grand Marshals: journalist and historian Tracy Baim, civil rights leader Mona Noriega, philanthropist and community advocate Evette Cardona, and the state’s LGBTQ+ judges’ association, the Alliance of Illinois Judges. [Chicago Sun-Times]
2. The Far Southeast Side has seen a steep growth in same-sex couples, according to U.S. census data
In a city whose population of same-sex households has increased by about 72%, the numbers have more than doubled between 2005 and 2024 in the southeastern cluster of mostly Latino, Black and working-class communities the census lumps together: South Shore, South Chicago, East Side, Hegewisch and South Deering.
Almost 2% of all households, or 977 couples, are same sex, according to 2024 census data. As my colleagues Lauren FitzPatrick and Alden Loury report, that number is the fourth highest percentage in the city, behind more visibly LGBTQ+ communities around Edgewater, Lake View or Lincoln Square, and it bests the city’s average.
The dozen Far Southeast Side city dwellers who spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ all arrived at similar motives driving the trend. Above all was the low cost of living, particularly compared to the North Side’s pricey lakefront gayborhoods or queer-friendly Hyde Park.
But gay and lesbian history runs deep in South Shore, the largest of the communities in the census’ Far Southeast Side cluster. Historically, South Shore was an aspirational destination for Black people, especially the Jackson Park Highlands area.
“Black, queer, gay, LGBTQ folks have always existed in Chicago,” said Brave Space Alliance CEO Nikki Patin, who spent their early childhood in South Deering. “We are not new. People are just living, and part of living is also like, how we’re gathering, how we’re documenting, how we’re sharing … how we’re building culture with each other.” [Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ]
Stonepeak Partners had waived a nondisclosure agreement Mayor Brandon Johnson has used to shield himself from questions about the bid he submitted — then abandoned — to take back the 36,000 parking meters Mayor Richard M. Daley famously unloaded in 2008.
Citing “industry intel,” Stonepeak Senior Managing Director James Wyper also disclosed that the Johnson administration offered the current owners of the city’s parking meters — Morgan Stanley, Allianz Capital Partners and the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Abu Dhabi — $3.3 billion to buy back the meters.
As my colleague Fran Spielman reports, that’s triple the $1.15 billion Chicago received from the 75-year lease in 2008 and $800 million more than the $2.53 billion bid submitted by Stonepeak.
At least 22 City Council members sent a letter to Johnson this month saying they planned to reject the sale after accusing the mayor of withholding critical information from the Council and secretly agreeing to a June 30 deadline to authorize the transaction. The deadline has since been postponed until July 24. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. DePaul Art Museum collections will stay on campus as day-to-day operations cease
Months ago, DePaul University announced the museum would cease all operations on June 30. Days later, university staff, faculty, students, alumni and notable Chicago arts leaders added their names to a letter of opposition to the closure.
But DePaul is going through with the closure, citing its “responsibility to ensure long-term financial sustainability,” my colleague Ambar Colón reports. The DePaul Art Museum announcement came two months after the university laid off 114 full-time and part-time staff. Administrators referenced financial troubles due to a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid and the rising costs of benefits.
The university’s provost later announced that the university will “maintain and steward the art collection as part of our academic and research offerings.” A spokesperson confirmed DePaul has no plans to sell or tear down the building at 935 W. Fullerton Ave. on the university’s Lincoln Park campus. [Chicago Sun-Times]
As Chicago has become a haven for transgender people being targeted by legislation in the U.S., writing remains an escape for queer people in the city, my colleague Violet Miller reports.
Author Tamara Jerée, 32, has loved creatures as long as they can remember, thanks in part to Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” and Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight.”
But reading “The Gilda Stories” by Jewelle Gomez — a vampire novel with themes of queer community — was the first time they saw a path as an author. Despite one of Jereé’s Purdue University professors criticizing their paranormal stories as unserious, they said the book showed them a “tradition of Black lesbians writing really impactful work in this genre.”
Now the characters and creatures inhabiting their fantasy worlds draw on their own experience. “The Flowers I Deserve,” published in November, follows a protagonist struggling with being shunned for a difference they were born with — and grappling with their ancestors’ desires conflicting with their own. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Here’s what else is happening
- The U.S. pledged generous earthquake relief to Venezuela in what appears to be one of its strongest responses to a natural disaster since dismantling premier aid agency USAID. [NPR]
- These are NPR staffers’ favorite fiction reads of 2026 so far. [NPR]
- A Chicago man was charged in connection with an alleged plot to attack the UFC event at the White House on President Donald Trump’s birthday. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation requiring businesses to disclose all fees that will be tacked onto ticket sales before customers reach checkout. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Oh, and one more thing …
Chicago’s Music Box Theatre will debut its third screen this weekend.
The beloved arthouse theater is rolling out its expanded Lake View footprint with showings of Guy Maddin’s “Careful” and Philip Hartman’s “No Picnic,” WBEZ’s Courtney Kueppers reports.
The new theater looks historic but features state-of-the-art technology and is in addition to the Music Box’s 700-seat main space, plus a 62-seat theater added in the ’90s that also got a recent refresh.
In December, the theater also announced it had acquired The Heights Theater just outside Minneapolis. The era of growth has been shepherded by Music Box co-owner and CEO Brody Sheldon. [WBEZ]
Tell me something good …
What is your favorite water activity in the Chicago area?
Philip writes:
“Sailing on Lake Michigan as part of a crew and enjoying great views of iconic Chicago skyline day and night.”
Thanks for the responses this week! It was great hearing from everyone.
Discussion in the ATmosphere