The new Bolingbrook Pride LGBTQ youth program provides a monthly drop-in “safe space” for youth in Bolingbrook and Romeoville.
Allies and partners in the project include the Valley View School District, a University of Chicago professor, a suburban Chicago all-LGBTQ+ counseling service, and PFLAG Bolingbrook. Read about how this new drop-in program helps build on existing efforts in public schools and by other groups to help LGBTQ+ youth feel safe and accepted.
Bolingbrook is one of the most diverse suburbs of Chicago. “We have lots of diversity, and we all live next to each other,” says Allaina Humphreys, co-head of the Bolingbrook Pride, only four years old.
With events like Saturday night’s LGBTQ+ Friendsgiving Dinner, Bolingbrook Pride is aiming to create “understanding through conversation” and takes a non-controversial approach to its mission: providing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people and especially youth.
With victims’ and heroes’ names now released, and accounts shared of Saturday night’s mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, more events and support are coming from LGBTQ+ groups throughout Iowa and Illinois.
The Garden Nightclub in Des Moines plans a benefit show Friday evening, and Basix in Cedar Rapids holds a benefit show Nov. 27. Mary’s on 2nd in Davenport is also working on putting together a memorial and fundraiser for Club Q, but details are not yet finalized.
Groups like The Project of the Quad Cities are also stepping up efforts to circulate information about mental health support lines.
For nine years, the Black Alphabet Film Festival has provided opportunities for Black LGBTQ+ and same-gender-loving (SGL) filmmakers to help share the experiences of their community. You can partake of this year’s event Saturday and Sunday either virtually, or in-person in Chicago.
Evanston, Berwyn, Cedar Rapids and the Iowa Green Party are among the Illinois and Iowa entities exploring ranked choice voting.
