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By Rebecca Berfanger
For the first time, IndyBar will have a group officially participating in the IndyPride Parade, sponsored by Indy Pride, Inc., in Downtown Indianapolis on June 8 from 10 a.m. to noon.
Parade group registration to travel the route with IndyBar is open to ALL IndyBar members and their friends and family interested in a morning of rainbow-colored fun along Massachusetts Avenue. IndyBar’s participation is being sponsored and promoted by IndyBar’s newly formed Lambda Committee.
For $15 and a registration by May 17, parade group participants will receive a royal purple T-shirt with the new “Indy Loves” logo. Ideally, IndyBar participants will wear the shirt in the parade to show a sense of unity. T-shirts and outfits, of course, can be customized with rainbow flair. Those who miss the May 17 deadline may still join their fellow IndyBar parade participants but will not be guaranteed a shirt.
Those who participate in the parade with IndyBar will have the opportunity to hand out swag along the route. Group members will also be able to share information about the IndyBar’s Indy Lawyer Finder service, and how to access the “Virtual Ask a Lawyer” online legal advice chat service. The information will be in both English and Spanish.
For IndyBar’s first year participating in the parade, the newly formed IndyBar Lambda Committee is hoping for at least 50 IndyBar registrants, with the idea of adding more in future years.
This year’s parade, now the largest parade in the state celebrating any cause, according to IndyPride, starts at 10 a.m. Parade participants line up at starting points near Massachusetts Avenue and St. Clair Street, travel southwest along Massachusetts Ave., turn north on Delaware, and the route ends at the intersection of Delaware and Michigan streets.
This year’s IndyPride celebration is one of many events marking the 36th year since the first event in Central Indiana recognizing the area’s LGBTQ+ community that took place in a public space. Since that 1988 celebration, the event has grown into what is now the annual Indy Pride Parade, which takes place the morning of the annual IndyPride Festival. Prior to the first public event in 1988, there were privately held dinners starting in the early 1980s, and a Labor Day picnic throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s.
In 2023, the parade boasted 180 groups, including legal organizations. For instance, Indiana Legal Services and ACLU of Indiana both participated in last year’s event. That year’s crowd was estimated to be about 60,000 people lined up along the route catching colorful plastic beads, waving whimsical fans, donning rainbow-framed sunglasses, and collecting candy and other swag throughout the morning.
And, of course, various Pride flags, rainbow tutus, and other creative outfits were on display for this annual, family-friendly event.
The parade is just one of many events IndyPride promotes throughout the months of May and June to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Indianapolis and beyond. The parade on Mass Ave. and festival in Military Park are by far the largest events sponsored by IndyPride.
Participants in the parade are encouraged to dress comfortably, slather on the sunscreen, and bring sunglasses. The parade route is about a mile long, and the event usually lasts a couple of hours.
Registration is available via indybar.org/pride. For more information about the parade, visit indypride.org/parade. •
Rebecca J. Berfanger runs her own practice, RJ Berfanger Law LLC, where she represents clients on a variety of civil legal needs with specific focus on probate and estate planning, family law, and small business law. Berfanger is an involved IndyBar and is the secretary of IndyBar’s new Lambda Committee.
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