Abortion care activism takes soft, supportive form through Carbondale Unitarian program
Inspired by a breast cancer survivor, this southern Illinois congregation is focusing on providing comfort bags for people experiencing abortion care.
Read More
Category: Illinois
Bolingbrook Pride Saturday features animal rescue, transgender closet, kids’ fun, more
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — Yes, you can celebrate Pride Saturday in Bolingbrook.
You can also help support an animal rescue group finding homes for dogs from puppy mills. Or participate in a mass marriage equality ceremony. Or enjoy Bolingbrook’s Welcome Wall featuring 27 different languages.
Read about what’s happening Saturday at the Pride event taking place in Bolingbrook, the third-most diverse suburb of Chicago.
Read More
Diverse online art auction from Carbondale Assembly for Radical Equity offers chance to support transgender families fleeing hostile areas
CARBONDALE, Ill. — If you’re looking for a way to help transgender people seeking to relocate from conservative, rejecting communities to accepting ones, check out the online art auction from the Carbondale Assembly for Radical Equity (CARE).
The auction will continue through 9 p.m. Saturday night. It’s part of a multi-faceted effort in this town of 22,000 known as “little Chicago,” in southern Illinois, to answer regional need for communities that offer sanctuary or haven to transgender or nonbinary people. The new CARE group aims to generate funds that will subsidize food, lodging and apartment deposits for those who feel unsafe, unwelcome, or outright threatened in their current communities.
The bidding is open to anyone, anywhere.
“You do not have to be local to bid on items,” organizers wrote on their event page. “We are happy to ship things to you just for shipping cost.”
Read More
Overloaded like animal shelters nationwide, Scott County humane society holds drag show benefit
DAVENPORT — Through its “Drag for Dogs” fundraiser Friday, and a shirt sales campaign, the Humane Society of Scott County is melding its fundraising during critical times with support for the Quad Cities’ LGBTQ community.
The fundraisers come at a time when shelters nationwide are overwhelmed with dogs and cats, struggling to find needed foster families and permanent homes, and overall euthanizing more animals.
Shelter Animals Count, a nonprofit that tries to track animal shelters nationwide, says the rate of euthanasia has increased nationwide for the first time in years. So has the gap between animals taken in by shelters, and released to adoption or foster families.
Read about how to support the Humane Society of Scott County and other animal shelters, whether through Friday’s Drag for Dogs benefit or 11 other steps you can take.
Read More
Smaller Iowa communities, Chicago hold major Pride events; RoyalTea, Pride 5k, Pride South Side also coming
In Iowa: Ankeny, Burlington, Fort Dodge, and Humboldt County are up for their big Pride celebrations.
In Illinois, the focus is on Chicago with its annual Pride Parade and Pride in the Park music festival this weekend, and Pride South Side (geared toward Black and Brown queerness) next weekend.
You can also learn about a Pride 5K walk or run, a potluck, a crafts event to honor Marsha P. Johnson, and more in this week’s peek at Pride Month, Weekend 4, throughout Illinois and Iowa.
Read More