Ride the Train or Cross the Street With Pride in Chicago

Whether you're riding Chicago's el trains or walking around the city's Boystown area this month, you'll be able to do so with Pride.

The Chicago Transit Authority has again decorated several train cars on the north-south Red Line in rainbow colors for Pride Month, as it has done the past several years. This year, for the first time, Howard Brown Health Center, which serves a largely LGBTQ clientele, has become a sponsor of the Pride cars, decorating the interior with visuals representing the center's diverse patient population and highlighting that it will never deny care, judge sexuality, or define anyone by their HIV status, according to a Howard Brown press release.

Also, in the heavily gay Boystown neighborhood, the city is installing 14 Pride-themed crosswalks along North Halsted Street -- 13 in rainbow colors and one in the pink, blue, and white colors of the transgender flag. Seven of them, including the trans one, were unveiled Thursday; the rest are scheduled to be completed by June 22, in time for the Pride festival, the Chicago Tribune reports. Halsted has many LGBTQ-oriented bars and businesses.

The painting of the crosswalks, costing $60,000, will be paid for by donations collected during Pride and the Northalsted Market Days festival, which takes place in August, officials with the Northalsted Business Alliance told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"As we step onto the crosswalks, we have to remember our history and how hard it was -- as we look forward to a bright future," Stu Zirin, vice president of the business group, said at a press conference for the unveiling, the Sun-Times reports.

"Obviously, Halsted Street is a tourist destination all over the country," Ald. Tom Tunney, who represents much of the area, told the Tribune. "As the gay and lesbian community has become more visible citywide, we want to be sure this historic street remains welcoming to the LGBT community and preserves the history of the LGBT community in Lakeview." Lakeview is the larger neighborhood that includes Boystown.

The Red Line runs through the area, slightly west of Halsted.