Celebrate Pride Month in Champaign-Urbana

Celebrating with our LGBTQ+ community in Champaign-Urbana during the month of June

June is designated as Pride Month and we have some resources for those who are interested in learning more

June is a glorious month for celebrations of all kinds — from graduations to weddings to the summer solstice. June is also celebrated worldwide by the LGBTQ+ community as Pride Month, when people embrace the ability to be authentically themselves.

Celebrating Pride Month in Champaign-Urbana

New York activist Brenda Howard organized the first Pride parade in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. (In June of 1969, the Stonewall Inn was the site of extensive rioting in response to a violent police raid targeting gay men.) This clash is considered the start of the modern struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, borrowing from both the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement. Stonewall, and the Pride parade the following year, is why June eventually became the month for Pride events nationwide and around the world.

Here are several local organizations who work to support the LGBTQ+ community in C-U as well as Central Illinois:

Uniting Pride: Uniting Pride advocates for the equality, wellness, advocacy, and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community in Champaign County and the surrounding areas. They serve their clients through support groups, community events, educational programming, and referrals and resources.
The LGBT Resource Center at the University of Illinois: A resource for the U of I community that works to make a safe and affirming environment for all LGBT students, faculty, & staff
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD): Offers LGBTQ+ friendly sexual health services, free and anonymous HIV testing, STD prevention
Planned Parenthood of Champaign: Provides low cost sexual health care to all genders and sexualities, offers gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT)

Why is C-U’s Pride Fest not during Pride Month?

For more than a decade, C-U has hosted the second largest Pride Parade in Illinois (and in its early days, the only Pride Parade in Illinois outside of Chicago!) in early fall rather than in June. The reason is simple enough — local activists wanted a community Pride celebration that could include the university community when school was in session.

In 2022, the CU Pride Fest Parade and Fair is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 1, in Urbana. You can keep track of the details on the event website.

Uniting Pride of Champaign County is the group responsible for Pride Fest — in fact, the group was originally founded in 2009 for the express purpose of organizing a Pride Parade in C-U. Its fall Pride Fest remains the “signature piece of programming,” according to Nicole Frydman (she/they), Uniting Pride’s director of operations.

When asked about Uniting Pride’s increased level of programming for June 2022, Frydman explained, “Sadly, 2021 was the worst year on record for the most anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the history of the U.S. and this year is on track to shatter that. So our work is far from done. More programming is in direct response to that. It is still essential to create safe places for folks to be out and proud on the streets of the communities in which we live.”

On behalf of Uniting Pride, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Frydman asks anyone who wants to support Pride programming to consider making a donation. Uniting Pride also has fun new merch for 2022, available for purchase at any of its June Pride events.