‘60 Minutes’ ghost no longer haunts Belleville

I’ve lived in or around Belleville, Illinois for 17 years now, so it was with a great sense of well, Pride that I attended the first annual Belleville Pride Event on June 21. Several hundred gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) and allied revelers from throughout the Metro East and The Lou attended the celebration which was sponsored by Metro-East Gays and Straights and Club Escapade.

Belleville’s certainly changed over the years. When I first arrived the city was reeling from the unflattering “60-Minutes” report on racial profiling being practiced by the Belleville Police Department in pulling people over and in some cases, on the city’s west side, police telling African Americans to go back “down the hill” to East St. Louis. Then-Belleville-Mayor Richard Brauer came across as a fool and a bigot to boot on national television and the label of intolerance befell the town.

Those were dark days for Belleville but the city was forced to take a long, sober look at itself and came out of the ordeal a better community for all, no matter what your race, religion or even sexual orientation might be.

Belleville’s always had a surprisingly large GLBT community. Our own Lea DeLaria—the openly lesbian actress, comedienne and chanteuse once quipped that they must have put something in Stag beer for Belleville to have so many queers. In fact at one point in the 1980s the city could boast having four gay bars. Still, these watering holes were small and kind of off the beaten path—a far cry from Club Escapade owned by Rick Hembree and his partner of 26-years, Harold Schwartz. The spacious bar sits prominently on Main Street, two blocks from the historic fountain.

On Pride Event morning the Belleville News Democrat trumpeted the celebration on its front page, but as a reminder that Belleville mayors can still say foolish things in the press, Mayor Mark Eckert had this to say of the event:

“I’m not saying I’m glad, I’m not saying I orchestrated it,” Eckert said. “The city doesn’t have any problem with people coming together to celebrate diversity as long as it’s in an orderly fashion and it’s about educating the public on different beliefs ... as long as it does not negatively impact the community in any way.”

To be fair, Eckert was on hand at the Pride Event to address an enthusiastic crowd and being every bit the politician tried to redeem his earlier ham-handed comments by championing the festival and what it meant to Belleville’s diversity. Other pols on hand were St. Clair County Board Chairman, Mark Kern and Illinois State Representative, Tom Holbrook.

It is only appropriate that Belleville’s Pride Event took the form of a street fair—there were booths, food vendors and a bevy of bands that hit the stage. For whether it be the Oktoberfest, the Fountainfest or Art on the Square, it’s the kind of celebration the town is known for and judging from the crowds milling about 2nd Street, the GLBT community does it with aplomb.

Belleville’s GLBT community continues to identify with and be a part of the larger St. Louis metropolitan queer community. But at the same time I think having its own Pride celebration helps illustrate that we’re more than just urban dwellers. Indeed, the GLBT community is everywhere from small towns and farm towns to the suburbs and the townships that surround them.

From our vantage point the Pride celebration was a rousing success and as my partner and I greeted old friends I couldn’t help but notice there were quite a few people whom I suspect were publicly declaring their sexuality in the light of day for the very first time. So as the music from the bands rose above the beautiful streetscape and reverberated against historic brick buildings, I couldn’t help being struck by what a statement we were making:

Here is a city that just 20 years ago was vilified in the national news for being close minded and intolerant…and now it held its first of a kind GLBT Pridefest. Belleville Pride is representative of just how powerful change can be and through our continued visibility and pride in our community that change can be infectious.

Happy Pride!

You can email Colin Murphy at colin_murphy@sbcglobal.net.