Pride Month 2021: See What’s Planned Around Buffalo Grove

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — As parades, celebrations and parties for Pride Month 2021 are held all over the country this June, people in and near Buffalo Grove are planning and holding gay pride events of their own.

In Buffalo Grove, a Pride Drive was held June 6. Like in 2020 due to the pandemic, attendees stayed in their cars and drove around town to check out the decorated homes of participating residents.

The event was organized by The Pinta Pride Project, a nonprofit "aimed to increase LGBT+ awareness within suburban communities." Molly Pinta was a 12-year-old student at Twin Groves Middle School when she decided her hometown desperately needed a parade to celebrate the LGBTQ community. With the help of her parents, Molly formed The Pinta Pride Project to "keep pride coming to Buffalo Grove every year and to support other young people in bringing their own events." Among Molly's goals with the organization is to make gay normal and seen.

RELATED: Pride Flag Raised: Public Outcry Led To Decision In Buffalo Grove

Pride Month celebrations around Buffalo Grove and nearby include:

• Coach Pride, June 11, Northbrook Court, 1515 Lake Cook Road, Northbrook. Bright, joyful things to celebrate LGBTQIA+ communities everywhere—as seen on the Coach Family.
• PRIDE Service, 9:30 a.m. June 13, First United Methodist Church of Arlington Heights, 1903 E Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights. Join the church in person or online to celebrate God’s Rainbow of Diversity.
• Pride Storytime (Virtual), 1:30 p.m., June 13, Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie. Join for a spectacular storytime celebrating Pride month. You will receive the Zoom link in your confirmation email. For information, https://skokielibrary.info.
• LGBT+ Pride Storytime, 9 a.m. June 16, Morton Grove Public Library, 6140 Lincoln Ave., Morton Grove. At this Pride Month storytime, library staff will read books and sing songs that celebrate all kinds of families.
• VIRTUAL Pride Family Dance Party, 10 a.m. June 19, Mount Prospect Library, 10 S Emerson St., Mount Prospect. Get decked out in rainbow colors for a virtual family party in celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride.
• Meghan Murphy: Big Red's Pride Party, 7:30 p.m. June 23, Hey Nonny, 10 S Vail Ave., Arlington Heights. Meghan Murphy is an actor/singer/producer/cabaret and recording artist based in Chicago.
• Harper Pride Fest, 2-4 p.m June 25, 1200 W Algonquin Road, Palatine. In honor of Pride Month in June, the Student Engagement team is excited to offer a physically distanced, on campus, outdoor event for the Harper Community.

Pride Month spotlights LGBTQ+ people, their influence and the challenges they face. June was chosen in recognition of the 1969 Stonewall riots, when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.

The raid led to a riot among patrons and local residents, with days of protests and violent clashes with police. The Stonewall riots ultimately sparked a gay rights movement nationally and globally, according to the Library of Congress.

The Pride celebration was originally dubbed “Gay Pride Day” and marked the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots with a parade in New York City.

The “day” soon grew to encompass a monthlong series of events in many American cities. It now includes millions of people across the world with parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, the Library of Congress said.

New York City, where Pride Month began, has hosted an annual march to note its historical connection since 1984, with this year’s NYC Pride march set for June 27.

Several other big cities across the country hold similar annual events in late June. Chicago Pride 2021 will include a variety of events around the city this month, with the Chicago Pride Parade delayed until October due to the coronavirus pandemic. Houston Pride 2021 has also been delayed until the fall.

Virtual Pride events are being held all month, according to a University of Georgia list that includes many of them.

Police officers in Elgin, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, are wearing a Pride Month badge throughout June to show support for the LGBTQ+ community. In Arlington Heights, Illinois, another Chicago suburb, a Pride Month proclamation states that the village "cherishes the value and dignity of each person."

Read More On Patch: Illinois Police Officers Show Support With Pride Month Badge

More rural areas have also began marking June as Pride Month in recent years.

"Each summer, Pride is an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of identities, experiences and histories in the LGBTQ community and recognize all who have and continue to advocate for LGBTQ lives, rights and visibility," Rayne Parker, assistant director of the office of LGBTQ resources at the University of Kentucky, said in a news release.

"As with other recognition months, this is an opportunity to highlight LGBTQ pride and advocacy and should continue to be recognized all year long," Parker said.

Pride events worldwide in 2021 are accompanied by the unveiling of a new pride flag that was changed to include intersex people, Advocate.com and others have reported. Intersex people have bodies that fall outside the strict male/female binary, according to Planned Parenthood.

Patch Editor Emily Leayman contributed to this report.