Sunday, 24 June saw some 450,000 people gather for Chicago's annual Gay Pride Parade. The Gay Liberation Network headed up an anti-war / anti-homophobia contingent that got a huge response from progressive and radical supporters as they marched. Through most of the parade route the packed crowds rolled off of the sidewalks and well into the street. The huge crowd repeatedly erupted in applause when they saw the gigantic banner ("Troops Home Now!") and gave marchers high-fives throughout the route. Many joined in with that and other anti-war chants.

At the end of the parade the GLN-led contingent confronted anti-gay bigots of the Fred Phelpsian variety who advocate the death or forced "salvation" of the LGBT community. The more "moderate" bigots, headed by Illinois's obsessive homophobe Peter LaBarbera, hired a plane to fly overhead with an anti-gay banner promising to "cure" homosexuality with their religion.

Official Pride Coverage