‘Love is love’ to area residents at annual DeKalb Pride Fest

DeKALB – David Delatorra was seated on a bench with a friend in Van Buer Plaza Thursday at the third annual DeKalb Pride Fest and March after getting a henna tattoo of Hello Kitty on their arm.

The Aurora resident said they believe more ways exist for people to improve upon allyship with the LGBTQ community.

“I feel like they should keep an open mind,” Delatorra said. “Love is love. We were born this way.”

Organizers of the DeKalb Pride Fest and March emphasized that the event is not only a resource fair but a celebration by bringing in artisans, food trucks and more. The event also featured a downtown DeKalb march and a free showing of the 2017 comedy drama movie “Freak Show” at the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St.

“We’re here. There’s a critical mass of us. So, you’re going to have to deal with us. You know what I mean? Let’s do it together.”

—  Katie Patrick

New this time around was the expansion of festivities into Van Buer Plaza downtown.

Jeanine Holcomb, marketing and communications director for the Egyptian Theatre, said organizers wanted to try something different.

“Spilling out into Van Buer Plaza is very new for us,” Holcomb said. “The first year, we had a couple of nonprofits that we partnered with that really had those resources for those maybe in this community or allies that want to have some extra information. Last year, we brought that up to be a little bit more and then it got so big last year that we were like, ‘We have to shut down the street. Like this is fantastic.’”

Holcomb said that knowing the event continues to grow and expand in its third year is wonderful to see. More than 70 vendors participated in the resource fair, which shared local services available to area residents.

“To us, it’s fantastic to see our community come out and support the Pride movement to show their love and sense of belonging,” Holcomb said. “I feel that’s really been a theme in our community lately is wanting to be belonging. [Northern Illinois University]’s really kicked that initiative off.”

Aurora resident Katie Patrick was seated on a curb enjoying bites of assorted fruit between conversation with a member of her roller derby team. She said it means a lot to be able to show her pride at the event.

“It’s good to be seen doing normal everyday things and kind of get over the history of queer life in America and just let people see that it’s accessible,” Patrick said. “We’re here. There’s a critical mass of us. So, you’re going to have to deal with us. You know what I mean? Let’s do it together.”

Patrick said her favorite part of the event was how “they shut the freaking streets down” to create a festival.

“We can actually party a little bit,” she said.

Holcomb said organizers had assessed the potential for risks to safety as they prepared to host the event, but decided to move forward as planned. She said fear doesn’t stop the community from gathering to be loud and proud.

“We monitor not only our social chatter of just what’s going on and we’re pretty much hand-in-hand talking with the chief of police,” Holcomb said. “We do have security on site just to make sure. We always do that with the Egyptian Theatre anyways, so it’s kind of in our purview. But we always want to make sure. We’d rather be safe than sorry, monitor all that we can.”

DeKalb resident Greg Finnigan was perusing one of the booths in the resource fair. He said that for him, Pride means not being afraid to represent and show who you are.

“Honestly, it goes back to Stonewall where they were just so tired of being pushed down and repressed and not being themselves that they fought back,” Finnigan said. “This is proof that we were hiding in the shadows for a while.”

Finnigan said recent legislation that’s made headlines across the country targeting transgender people is worrisome in his view. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, The Associated Press reported.

“I’ve never been afraid to hide who I was but with the legislation, it’s just terrifying,” Finnigan said. “I have trans family and friends and just the amount of stress and pressure that they have on them is just terrifying. To actually be able to be out there to support them is just hopefully showing the world that we can help.”

Delatorra said they do not worry about Illinois facing the same predicament that some states are facing over legislation and bans targeting transgender people. In February, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law a bill meant to remove barriers for Illinoisans to access gender-affirming care, including updating birth certificates to a person’s perferred gender.

“It’s a blue state,” Delatorra said. “I feel like there are things in place to protect us. I don’t see that happening.”

Delatorra said they believe DeKalb as a city is a fairly inclusive community, but DeKalb County as a whole leaves them less certain.

“DeKalb, the town itself, I feel would be,” Delatorra said. “We have NIU here. There’s a giant voice for LGBTQ here. As far as the county, I know there’s like a lot of rural areas and Republican-leaning people and what-not. … I would hope so.”

Campton Hills resident Dirk Flansburg said he felt motivated to come out Thursday’s event in search for like-minded folks.

“I’m looking for a local queer community,” Flansburg said. “I just moved here. Online all the Facebook groups are just so empty, so I just have to show up and talk to people.”

Flansburg said his favorite part of the event is easy to pinpoint.

“I’m seeing so many independent queer creators and stuff in Illinois, which I feel like I didn’t see much of in Oklahoma,” he said. “There’s like so much more of a network for that here.”