i’m worried about pride month this year.
The first Pride of the Trump 2.0 era could test organizers like never before.
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Believe it or not, we are now less than four weeks away from the beginning of Pride Month, and I think a lot of folks are afraid to ask the question that is on the front of my mind: What the hell is happening for Pride this year?
In some ways, from where I sit in the western Chicago suburbs, Pride Month will be business as usual. Aurora is already planning a wide swath of programming that includes its parade, official afterparty, a flag-raising ceremony, and the city-sponsored Pride at the Plaza event. Elgin is also preparing for its parade and festival with a packed calendar of supporting activities. Woodstock will host a Pride festival, as will Buffalo Grove, Rockford, and Lake County. Plans are also already underway for Naperville’s Pride festival in September.
You might remember that I also issued a similar warning this time last year just for Pride Month to more or less continue as planned, but this year feels different. Just beneath the surface, I’ve heard from multiple sources that some of these Pride events are expecting to move forward with fewer community partners and sponsors than they have in recent years. Trump’s anti-DEI edicts combined with the administration’s hamfisted approach to tariffs slowly tanking our economy are causing many corporate sponsors to reduce, delay, or cut altogether their support for Pride events.
CNBC reports San Francisco’s Pride festival has lost support from major corporations including Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, and Nissan, while Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Comcast have also pulled their support for WorldPride in DC despite their prior support for similar events. Other festivals across the country—in Seattle, New York, Minneapolis, and Denver— are also facing budget shortfalls for this year’s festivities due to their own corporate sponsors backpedaling on their previously planned support.
It’s not just big corporations that are reevaluating their support of Pride events in light of the current political and economic environment. A reader of this newsletter informed me that the Fox Valley Park District—the state’s largest park district system outside of Chicago—will not be marching in the Aurora Pride Parade for the first time in many years. A district spokesperson offered the following comment when I asked for clarification:
“In the spirit of fairness and consistency to other organizations that host communitywide events, the Fox Valley Park District has opted to support the 2025 Aurora Pride Parade as a financial sponsor, while encouraging our coworkers interested in marching to participate with friends and family.”
In St. Charles, organizers are also seeking a permit for an event described as a Pride mini-festival on June 2. Though it is unclear if pushback is anticipated, they are encouraging supporters to reach out to St. Charles City Council members to ask for their support for the permit ahead of a presentation from organizers at the city’s Government Operations Committee meeting Monday evening.
In an e-mail I sent to all 10 St. Charles City Council members and newly elected mayor Clint Hull this morning, I wrote:
Events like this send an important message to the city's residents who are LGBTQ+. It says that they are seen, that they matter, that their life has value and that value is recognized by the place where they live. This is particularly timely in a moment where queer and trans teens are flooding crisis hotlines and where the federal government is becoming increasingly hostile to queer and trans Americans, as reflected (just a few examples) in cuts to LGBTQ+ health research, the rolling back of trans housing protections, and many other attacks that have targeted the community in ways both big and small in this administration's first 100 days.
St. Charles has the chance to offer hope in another direction, and to follow its own strategic plan to offer "a sense of place and belonging where everyone is welcome."
All of these factors overlapping amid the backdrop of fascism make the already heavy work of Pride Month organizing even heavier for queer organizers and activists. This work already falls on far too few individuals, many of whom are fully booked for the entire month, but with little to no financial reward. Adding the stress of trying to identify and confirm new sponsors and partners to make up for the loss of previous sponsors and partners in this environment makes the work even more arduous and less sustainable.
Adding to all of this is the heightened risk of anti-queer and anti-trans individuals potentially disrupting these events. Pro-queer spaces in the area have already faced an uptick in the presence of agitators like the man who has been targeting various local businesses in recent months for their support of queer and trans people—all in the pursuit of YouTube video views. These events are always a potential target for hate, and the risk feels higher right now than it has in years past.
Taken as a whole, all of this means we have to show up and turn up for each other even more this Pride—but also for queer and trans folks to pace themselves and avoid the temptation to burn themselves out this coming month. It’s a great time for queer self care and queer joy. Order that dessert and indulge in the little treats of life wherever you can. Resist the urge to doom scroll and watch your favorite queer comfort movie instead. FaceTime your bestie and tell them they’re beautiful.
It’s also a great time for allies to uplift the work and lives of queer and trans people in your orbit, to fund community events like Annie Hex’s Queer Prom, and to follow our lead by asking what we need and how you can help us have a Pride Month full of love and free of hate.
I think the most important lesson this Pride Month is about to teach us is that Pride is ours and ours alone. It ultimately doesn’t matter if one corporation or another is using the Trump administration’s hateful actions on queer and trans lives as their cover to nope out of doing the bare minimum for us each June. This year, we are celebrating Pride on our terms, and what we won’t be doing is taking our cues from cowardly corporations, fair-weather allies, or hateful politicians.
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P.S. No Other Land, the Oscar-winning film I recently discussed here, just got a new screening date and venue in the western suburbs. The documentary, which centers on the people of Masafer Yatta pushing back against the Israeli military, will be shown at Naperville’s The Matrix Club on Friday, May 16. Tickets to the screening cost $10 and can be purchased here. The film is also available for at-home rentals through May 8 at this link. Aurora’s The Venue had originally planned to screen No Other Land last month but abruptly canceled their screenings when they caved to those opposed to the film being shown.
SONG OF THE RIGHT-NOW
I’ve been very fixated of late on the alt-pop duo Magdalena Bay’s cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes,” which they first unveiled on triple j’s famous Like a Version series last month. If you know me, you know I love a good cover, and these two send the flawless Bowie original into orbit with their signature spacy sheen.
I’m seeing the band live in Madison this weekend and secretly hoping they play this cover as part of their set, though I’ll be happy with anything I hear from them. Their 2024 album, Imaginal Disk, was definitely one of my personal favorite albums released last year and I’m excited to be catching them live in a medium-sized room since I’m not sure how much longer that will even be possible.
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue,
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now