Indianapolis, IN
‘The laws are the laws:’ Indy Pride organizers balance event safety, community concerns
SCOTUS takes up case on LGBTQ+, inclusive books in schools
Demonstrators on both sides protested as the Supreme Court heard a school district’s case on parents’ rights and LGBTQ+ books.
Five years after Indy Pride stopped hiring police for event security, organizers say they’re still keeping law enforcement at arm’s length while staying compliant with city code.
The plans to retain status quo were announced during a public discussion between the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Indy Pride on April 23. A chair reserved for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department sat empty.
Indy Pride, the organization that hosts events, including the annual June parade, announced a plan to replace police with private security firms in June 2020. Leadership cited solidarity with protests against police brutality.
Per city code, only law enforcement can manage road closures and direct traffic away from outdoor festivities. Uniformed officers remain just outside the celebrations, causing some attendees to wonder whether Indy Pride’s stance on police at Pride has changed.
“We will continue to stand with Black Lives Matter,” Jose Castillo Jimenez, Indy Pride board president, said April 23. The security personnel that now monitor events are not police officers, according to Castillo Jimenez.
Representatives for Indy Pride explained that they’d be unable to get permits for their largest events, which can attract as many as 60,000 visitors, without some degree of cooperation with police.
The discussion in Indianapolis came amid an ongoing national conversation about the role of law enforcement at LGBTQ+ celebrations.
Pride month is celebrated in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a days-long series of protests against police raids at a New York City gay bar.
Nearly all of the attendees who spoke at the April 23 meeting said that the presence of law enforcement turns what should feel like a safe space into a hostile environment.
“Whenever I see police officers, I get nervous,” said Riley Seungyoon Park, an Indianapolis writer. “I get extremely nervous, because I know what they do to our community members.”
A feeling of distrust has only increased amid a recent swath of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Indiana and throughout the country.
“We don’t have to imagine a reality in which trans people develop a profound anxiety simply existing in public life out of fear for their safety, because we’re already there,” said Elliot Froese, a graduate student.
While it’s possible that volunteers could one day replace some police who surround the event’s perimeters, Indy Pride currently lacks the necessary manpower and insurance to make that possible, board members said. Police would still be needed for road closures under city rules.
“The laws are the laws, and we have to follow them at the end of the day, so we can give you what you want — so you can have joy,” said Aundrea Lacy, an Indy Pride board member.
Derek Ford, one of the town hall’s organizers, said IMPD earlier said they’d send a representative but then reversed course shortly before the event.
“The absence is very present,” Ford said.
An IMPD spokesperson said Indy Pride had contacted one of the department’s LGBTQ+ liaisons to see if anyone was available, but all were busy.
IMPD and Indy Pride
In 2021, Indy Pride landed at the center of a social media controversy after posting a photo of friends posing in an Indy 500 car, holding pride flags. The post was swiftly deleted after commenters decried the IMPD logo on one person’s t-shirt.
“This photo hurt members of our community that are actively fighting against police brutality,” Indy Pride said in a statement after the deletion.
IMPD faced online backlash of its own after wrapping a patrol car with a rainbow flag decal in June 2023. In response, a department spokesperson told IndyStar that IMPD “celebrates Pride Month and the contributions of our LGBTQ+ colleagues within our department, community and our city.”
2025 Indy Pride events
- May 3: Drippin’ in Pearls Pageant, Mr & Mx categories, 5 – 11 p.m., Krannert Room in Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall, 4602 Sunset Ave.
- May 4: Drippin’ in Pearls Pageant, Ms. Category, 5 – 11 p.m., Krannert Room in Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall, 4602 Sunset Ave.
- May 10: Rainbow 5k run/walk, 7 a.m., Fowling Warehouse, 1125 E. Brookside Ave., Ste. D9
- May 11: 250 Tricycle race, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Sun King Brewery, 135 N. College Ave.
- May 16: Asian and Pacific Islander Pride dance party, 7 – 10 p.m., 10 East Arts Hub, 3137 E. 10th St.
- May 31: Pride Pet Parade, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverside Park, 2420 E. Riverside Drive.
- June 1: Interfaith celebration, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverside Park, 2420 E. Riverside Drive
- June 1: Cookout and Bat N Rouge, 1 – 5 p.m., Riverside Park, 2420 E. Riverside Drive
- June 6: Queeraoke Night, 6 – 10 p.m., 10 East Arts Hub, 3137 E. 10th St.
- June 9: Deaf Pride, 7 – 10 p.m., Greg’s Our Place, 231 E. 16th St.
- June 12: Girl Pride, 7 – 11 p.m., The Vogue Theatre, 6259 N. College Ave.
- June 14: Pride Parade, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., begins at 748 Massachusetts Ave.
- June 14 – 15: Celebration on the Circle Pride Festival, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m., Monument Circle
- June 14 – 15: Word of Mouth music series, 2 – 10 p.m., American Legion Mall, 700 N. Pennsylvania St.
- June 21: Betty Who Out of the Darkness Tour, 6 p.m., Hi-Fi Annex, 1065 St. Patrick St.
- June 26: Bi and Beyond: A Pride Celebration, 7 – 10 p.m., 10 East Arts Hub, 3137 E. 10th St.
- June 27: Community Music Night, 6-9 p.m., Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd St.
- June 27: LatinX Pride, 7 p.m. – 2 a.m., The Vogue Theatre, 6259 N. College Ave.
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.
INDIANAPOLIS — One person is in critical condition following a shooting on Indy’s near east side.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 8:10 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of East Washington Street on reports of a person shot.
Upon arrival, police located a 50-year-old man with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
He is currently reported to be in extremely critical condition.
No additional information has been made available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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