PHOTOS: 2026 LGBTQ pride celebration in Urbana
Sixteenth annual event includes parade and booths featuring 150 community organizations along Race and Main Streets.
Tag: LGBTQ
Transgender people are looking for safer places to live. Some have found a home in central Illinois
Amid increasingly hostile laws and rhetoric targeting transgender people in the United States, many of them seek to move to places they feel safer. Aaron Slayton is one of many who have made a new home in central Illinois.
The Virginia Theatre celebrates 50 years of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ with new shadow cast
CHAMPAIGN — The Virginia Theatre in Champaign will host its annual showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Oct. 25. This year’s showing will embrace a tradition of the film and include a performance by a shadow cast. The movie celebrates its 50th year since its release in 1975, and its long legacy has
Illinois teachers believe parents support teaching inclusive history, despite national divides
A new report from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows most educators in the state think parents support them teaching about race and gender.
Pritzker announces ‘first of its kind’ legal hotline for LGBTQ+ Illinoisans
Illinois Pride Connect will come online Monday, offering advice on health care access, identifying documents, housing, government benefits and safety concerns.
‘Rainbow Reflections’ makes LGBTQ+ history tangible in the Spurlock Museum’s first-ever Pride exhibit
The exhibit, curated by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Ph.D. student Dale Mize, features a collection of objects representing queer history from Champaign-Urbana and around the world.
Pritzker balances messaging as some Dems encourage party to avoid LGBTQ issues
Some Democrats, who are often named as possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidates alongside Pritzker, think the party needs to talk less about LGBTQ issues.
Fantastical, satirical, unapologetic: Millie Wilson’s ‘Museum of Lesbian Dreams’ at Krannert Art Museum
Fantastical wig sculptures. An accused serial killer. A gathering of stuffed clothing in animal print. “Millie Wilson: The Museum of Lesbian Dreams” has it all. The show is on display at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign through March 1.
C-U advocates respond to Trump executive orders that take aim at trans rights, bodily autonomy
Local advocates for reproductive justice gathered in Urbana Saturday, Feb. 8, to address growing concerns about the erosion of bodily autonomy in the current political climate.
Since President Trump took office, he’s signed numerous executive orders aimed at limiting the rights of transgender people and curbing access to abortion.
Is it worth it? Black culture and its current crisis
Sidney Madden, Corey Antonio Rose and gospel music icon Yolanda Adams spoke with the Dialogue team during the August 2024 NABJ conference in Chicago.
Rural student “didn’t see any changes” after Illinois LGBTQ+ history law passed
Common textbooks from companies like McGraw Hill have long included information on Asian American, African American and Native American history — but not LGBTQ+ history. That can make it challenging for teachers to comply with Illinois inclusive history requirements.
New exhibit examines Midwestern Black lesbian experience
CHAMPAIGN — Archival photos are the centerpiece of a new display at the Krannert Art Museum focusing on the Black lesbian experience in the Midwest. The new solo exhibition by Jen Everett, “Could You Dim the Lights?” opens February 1 and runs through October 2024. Powell noted the universal appeal of Everett’s work, saying, “She’s
“Pride of the Illini” showcases LGBTQ+ stories and art at UIUC
URBANA — Before graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in winter 2023, Lindsay Peters created a senior project that combined her passions for sound editing and LGBTQ+ community advocacy. Peters wanted to combat the underrepresentation of the queer community in media, so she recorded and produced a series of original songs, poems and short
Trans Americans are fleeing to Illinois. Here’s why:
While Illinois has moved to protect access to gender-affirming care and enshrined civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community overall, four of the five states that border Illinois have all seen a massive rise in bills that target the queer community, especially transgender youth. According to the ACLU’s anti-LGBTQ legislation tracker, Missouri’s state legislature has considered 48 bills in 2023 alone that would negatively impact the queer community in areas ranging from healthcare to education to free speech and expression.
‘I’m not safe here’: One trans Catholic reckons with his faith as the church shifts
CHAMPAIGN — Harrison Price remembers when he first started feeling unwelcome in the Catholic church. It was 2015 when the Supreme Court was considering Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that guaranteed the right marriage for LGBTQ+ couples. “In the bulletin, there was a big note that had an image, like, you know, bathroom-sign-type image of