Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin founded the city's Gay Pride parade in 2018. | NCTV
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin founded the city's Gay Pride parade in 2018. | NCTV
To celebrate its third annual "gay pride" parade, the City of Aurora is hosting an LGBTQ+ flag-making workshop for junior high and high school students.
The workshop, open to children ages 10-19, is scheduled for Thursday June 2 at 5:00 p.m. at the city's West Branch public library, 233 S. Constitution Drive in Aurora.
"We will be providing small flags that can be decorated to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride or to support of the LGBTQ+ community," the city's announcement said. "Join us to make a Pride flag for yourself, a loved one, and/or just to show support! All materials will be provided."
Aurora's gay pride parade, scheduled this year for Sunday June 12, was founded in 2018 by current Mayor Richard Irvin.
Irvin, a longtime Democrat, is currently running for the Republican nomination for Illinois governor.
The parade is funded by taxpayers and Indivisible Aurora, a group "(organized) to resist the Trump Administration agenda when and where it offends our American values," according to its Facebook page.
"The vote is a victory for all of Aurora, not just Indivisible Aurora or the LGBTQ community," said Indivisible Aurora's leader Chuck Adams, when the parade was established. "This is a move to a more inclusive city that Mayor Richard Irvin has made a priority."
Indivisible Aurora held a rally in Aurora earlier this month to protest restrictions on partial-birth abortion. In 2018, it joined Irvin and then State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) to protest the Trump administration's attempts to deport criminal illegal immigrants, establishing Aurora as a so-called "Sanctuary State" where police wouldn't follow federal immigration law.
Organizers of the 2022 parade are recommending participants wear masks to protect them from COVID-19. The parade will start at E. Benton Street and S. Broadway, travel Northeast up Broadway to Downer Place, turn left and travel Northwest on Downer Place and end at W. Downer Place and N. Middle Avenue with a LGBTQ+ party and festival.
Corporate parade sponsors are the City of Aurora, Numark Credit Union, Rush Copley Medical Center, The Hartford, Hella Hot Yoga, Edward-Elmhurst Health, Aurora Downtown, Taking Control, Comes, the Naperville Township Democrats, Bricolage Wellness and Temple B'nai Israel.
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