Chicago Teachers Union to have float in June 26 Pride Parade
The Chicago Teachers Union will be marching this summer, and not just outside the Board of Education or in Washington, D.C. at the SOS march on July 30 (which the CTU sponsors). CTU is also having a float in the Pride Parade at the beginning of the summer and a float in the Bud Billiken Parade at summer's (near) end.
The first major march this week comes on June 22, when CTU is asking hundreds of members to sign up and speak out against the recent attacks by the Board of Education and the mayor at the June 22, 2011, regular meeting of the Board. (The June 15 meeting was a special meeting).
That march will be followed by a Sunday, June 26, float, which will be the center of the activities of the CTU in the Pride Parade. The float shows CTU's support for LGBT issues. Union members in Chicago and across the country will march in the 2011 Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26.
The parade will begin at approximately 12:00 p.m.
On Sunday, June 26, thousands will march for equality in the Chicago 42nd Annual Pride Parade. The assembly point is at Belmont and Halsted and will stretch for several blocks (one mile south all the way to Fullerton, so it's good to know where your float or activity is before you get there).
According to the Pride Parade Website (http://www.chicagopridecalendar.org/parade.shtml) Halsted Street all the way from Belmont south to Fullerton will be closed to traffic at 10:00 AM. The parade route will be closed to traffic at 11:00 AM. The parade starts at 12 Noon at the Halsted/Belmont corner proceeding north on Halsted Street to Grace; then south on Broadway to Diversey; then east on Diversey to Cannon Drive in (Lincoln Park). In the past, CTU members who wished to join the float along the route while enjoying the rest of the parade simply found a good spot and waited. There are more than 250 floats and other activities registered for the parade. The URAL for the official website for those who can't get to hotlinks is: http://www.chicagopridecalendar.org/parade.shtml
According to a CTU bulletin (June 19), "CTU's float is near the front of the parade, so we will set up near the corner of Halsted and Barry" (one block south of Belmont). "1. The CTU float is 16th in this year's Pride Parade out of 240 units scheduled to march that day. 2. Our meeting time is between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. at the float site described below, so that we can be ready to step off promptly when the parade starts at noon on Sunday, June 26. 3. Our line-up spot is the 8th one back on the west side of Halsted Street from where the parade begins at the corner of Halsted St and Belmont Ave. This spot is near the corner of Halsted St. & Barry St."
Given that there may be as many as a half million people moving into this area by noon Sunday, it's probably a good idea for those attending to plan how to get there and how to leave. Also, the media are reporting that Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be leading the parade, so there may be teachers who want to respond to his neurotic attacks on the CTU (it was teachers, not Chicago capitalism, that has "shafted" the kids and teachers should have some "skin in the game"). Chicago's new mayor has some, shall we say, guy issues. We're not the first to notice it or remark on it, since his variations (and his fondness for language we won't allow in our classrooms) has been well known since he was working for the Clinton administration more than a decade ago and was on display when he was a local Congressman who supported the invasion of Iraq (against the wishes of the vast majority of the voters in the 5th Illinois Congressional District) in March 2003.
Now Rahm wants to prove his guyness by invading the CTU?
CTU members who want to be part of the parade are asked to register at: www.ctunet.com.
