Street dedicated to late Chicago Pride Parade organizer Richard Pfeiffer

CHICAGO (WLS) -- There was a big honor Sunday for a pioneer in Chicago's LGBTQ+ community.

The late Richard Pfeiffer now has a street named after him on Chicago's North Side. He led Chicago's Pride Parade for more than 40 years.

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The northwest corner of Belmont Avenue and North Halsted Street now has a new name, carrying a kind of significance that's changed lives.

"Things don't just happen on their own. They happen because people work and build a community and reach out," WXRT Chicago host Terri Hemmert said. "That's what he did. He dedicated his life to that."

The vibrant and colorful intersection, in the city's historic Northalsted community is now known as "Richard Pfeiffer Parade Way."

"I stand on the shoulders of Rich and so many others that have given our community the opportunity and platform we have today, to be everywhere, to express ourselves everywhere," 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson said.

Pfeiffer was a pioneer in Chicago's LGBTQ+ community for decades. He was the coordinator of the city's massive and world renowned Pride Parade from 1974 until his death in 2019.

He died just months after the 50th annual Chicago Pride Parade. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of fame in 1993.

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No one understands the true scope of Pfeiffer's impact on Chicago more than his husband, Tim Frye.

"I think that's the whole idea of the parade: to change a person's mind about who they are and make them feel more comfortable," Frye said.

ABC7 spoke with Frye before Sunday's ceremony. He said the new street sign highlighting his husband's everlasting impact in the community will enshrine his role forever in Windy City history.

"He would secretly be very happy about this," Frye said. "He might not say it, but he would be."