City officials have reached a tentative deal following weeks of litigation to allow a coalition of feminist and LGBTQ+ groups to march down Michigan Avenue on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
The city has agreed to a one-mile route on Aug. 18, starting at the Chicago River and ending at the John Logan monument at the south end of Grant Park.
The Democratic National Convention will run from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22.
One organization, Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws: Coalition for Reproductive Justice & LGBTQ+ Liberation, filed an application in January for an Aug. 18 march along a route that was nearly twice as long, starting farther north at Water Tower Place. The group sued with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois after the city denied their permit.
At a court hearing Wednesday, the city committed to allowing a permit along the shorter route. But the lawsuit still has not resolved complaints about the “security footprint” for the DNC, which would bar people and certain objects from as-yet-undetermined areas within the city during the convention, said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the ACLU-Illinois.
“The route is shorter, but in the end, it is what these groups wanted, which was to march before the convention started, in view of iconic locations like the Bean and the hotels [where] delegates will be able to see them,” Yohnka said.
A spokeswoman for the city Law Department declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
At least two other groups also have sued the city for rejecting permits to march during the convention, along routes near the United Center and the McCormick Place convention center, where most DNC events will take place.
The groups hosting the Bodies Outside march, which are organized around issues related to reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, have also issued a statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Yohnka was certain groups representing many causes were likely to join the march.
In the lawsuit, Bodies Outside noted that city officials had cited the need for increased police staffing and traffic disruptions caused by the proposed route of the march, but were unable to explain how a city-proposed alternate route farther south of the iconic Magnificent Mile would have been less intrusive.
During hearings over the original permit, Chicago police officials said the department was refusing time off during convention week, and that the full complement of some 11,000 CPD officers, along with Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s deputies, would be available.
Michigan Avenue and Grant Park saw some of the worst outbreaks of violence during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with demonstrators who opposed the Vietnam War clashing with police over several days in late August that year.
In a statement, Andy Thayer, an organizer of this year’s march, said groups were happy to have their march approved, though they remained concerned about planning for other demonstrations.
“But we must be clear. It should not have been necessary for the intervention of a federal court to have this route approved,” he said. “And the city continues to delay in creating a real, public plan for welcoming free expression activity around the convention.”
