By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Thousands of activists took to the streets of Chicago May 1 for a march for immigrants’ rights.

About 15,000 people came out for the march, about a tenth of the 150,000 marchers last year, according to the Chicago Tribune.

There were many theories as to why this year’s march was so much smaller than last.

Nicole Perez, of Amigas Latinas, said it may have been because employers were less likely to give their employees the day off. A friend said to her, “Yell twice as loud, because I don’t want to go.”

Others suggested that many in the immigrant community fear reprisals in the form of raids, which have been stepped up recently. Many also felt that since this is an election year, some activist energies may be directed elsewhere.

Those who did make it, though, had perfect weather for the march that moved from Union Park at Chicago and Ashland to Federal Plaza downtown.

Paul Avery, who lives near Pilsen, marched in a contingent with Gay Liberation Network, Amigas Latinas and Association of Latino Men for Action, among other groups, because he was concerned about the “virulent demonization of Hispanics” he sees happening in the news. The gay community, he said, should step up with more frequent shows of support for the immigrant community.

But he added that members of the Hispanic community need to do more to learn about the GLBT community as well, perhaps by attending PFLAG meetings or even just visiting the Center on Halsted.

It’s advice Avery’s mother, Lupe Avery-Avila, who lives in Pilsen, has taken to heart. She was there marching alongside her son.

“This year, I said, ‘To heck with it,’” she said. “I want my children to have the same rights as everyone else,” she said.

She added that she follows stories of human rights abuses around the world and thinks women need to step to the fore and speak out against those abuses more often.

“We’re all sisters. We’re all mothers,” she said.

Bob Schwartz of GLN noted the irony in the fact that businesses “know no borders” and can easily move their assets and operations overseas, while individuals do not enjoy the same privileges.

He added, “The government offensive has taken its toll. People get taken in by promises of candidates—there’s no solution in (just) electing the candidate who will bring change.”

According to Schwartz, movement in the streets is what will bring that about.

“The immigration issue is used as a distraction. The energies that might be spent protesting against the war are instead spent protesting against immigrants,” he added.

It wasn’t too many years ago the entire LGBT community was ‘illegal,’ too,” said Andy Thayer of GLN. “We have a country where a good number of decent things were ‘illegal’ and people woke up and fought against that,” he added.

“If we’re going to get expect full support when we’re fighting discrimination and hate, we need to extend the same,” Thayer said. “We can’t pick and choose who is granted full equality.”

“We have to support the march. It is such a big challenge for us to immigrate. We have to be here,” said Jorge Cestou of ALMA. Cestou was Mr. Chicago Leather of 2007 and said he tries to represent himself as a Hispanic man in his activities in that capacity.

“We try to do as much outreach as possible, to remind people that we are both within the gay community and within the (leather) subculture,” Cestou said.

Perez mentioned that, in the march two years ago GLBT marchers were subjected to heckles from the crowd. Aurora Pinena of Amigas Latinas said that that wasn’t the case this year.

This year, “I didn’t see people gawking,” she said.