Uniting Pride of Champaign County is considered one of the only LGBTQ+ resource centers in eastern Illinois.
Joshua Gavel, interim director of operations at Uniting Pride, explained they have a full-time staff and a physical location with several services, including support groups, an unrestricted food pantry and other resources.
Uniting Pride operates with a staff of four and a network of over 200 volunteers each year to facilitate support groups and handle the preparations for Champaign-Urbana’s Pride Fest and other events.
There are various LGBTQ+ resource centers in Illinois, according to CenterLink. There are around five centers concentrated in downtown Chicago and a few more in northern Illinois in Naperville, Rockford and Roselle.
However, Uniting Pride is one of three LGBTQ+ resource centers in downstate Illinois. Individuals who live in this region might rely on the Rainbow Cafe in Carbondale or the Phoenix Center in Springfield. Both have been around for over 20 years, according to Gavel.
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Gavel said in eastern Illinois, LGBTQ+ individuals have to depend on Uniting Pride as their main resource center compared to the abundance of resources in Chicago.
“The reality is that a lot of our resources as a state are concentrated closer to Cook County, and once you get outside of Cook County, they become fewer and far between,” Gavel said.
Aiden Novinska, operations coordinator at Uniting Pride, said it can also be challenging for individuals in eastern Illinois to access Uniting Pride due to the distance.
“If you live in Champaign or Mahomet or follow any of the surrounding towns around here, we are the only center that you have; it can be hard for people to access us,” Novinska said. “Either because they have transportation barriers or their family isn’t accepting. So I think that’s something that makes it harder living in a smaller area.”
According to Gavel, people from Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana sometimes visit or contact Uniting Pride because it is the closest place to provide them resources or a pride celebration, which might be nonexistent in their area.
“We do our best to try and go and help them find resources and support in their area, but if they can’t find resources and support in their area, we’re never going to turn them away,” Gavel said. “We’re never going to say, like, ‘We’re not going to help you.’ We’re going to fight as hard as we can to help every person that we possibly can.”
Uniting Pride members have traveled throughout eastern Illinois from Monticello, Tolono, Philo and Tuscola to spread resources, such as trainings for students and faculty in schools and connecting with local businesses and civic organizations.
“We make an effort to go out to those rural areas, go to schools, libraries, businesses and try and build relationships in those areas so that queer folks who don’t have access to stuff here in Champaign-Urbana know that we can reach them as well,” Gavel said.
On top of developing C-U’s Pride Fest, Uniting Pride also travels to other pride festivals in Bloomington, Springfield and Decatur and sets up booths to make their presence known, Novinska said.
Gavel said Uniting Pride also has a Discord server, which allows them to connect with individuals who need resources, whether it be finding housing, an accepting faith community or a gender-affirming healthcare provider. There are over 500 members on the Discord server.
Gavel said he wished Uniting Pride could be everywhere throughout Illinois; however, being the only resource center in the area can make this challenging.
“Unfortunately, that’s kind of the double-edged sword of being the only LGBTQ+ center in this region,” Gavel said. “We would love to get everywhere every week. I would love to be in every single town. I would love to be in all of these places having really active conversations constantly, but we can’t be everywhere all at once.”
Despite these challenges, Gavel said Uniting Pride’s partnership with other groups, such as Vermillion County Pride Coalition, has helped decimate resources and expand their reach.
“By building coalition and working with other groups, we’ve been able to expand our reach together,” Gavel said. “But we could always use more; we could always use more support, whether that’s folks creating a group in their town, whether that’s people who want to build a center like we have here.”
Uniting Pride relies on volunteers to help with the annual pride fest and decimate resources beyond C-U. Gavel said they would ask volunteers or community members to hand out pamphlets in rural areas or spread the word about Uniting Pride’s existence.
Sophie Michaels lives in Farmer City — 25 miles from the University — and has volunteered for the organization for several years.
“They’re like family to me now,” Michaels said. “So, you know, they know they can count on me if in dire need that they need some more help. They can’t do it all. (Four) of them can’t do everything by themselves.”
With the assistance of volunteers like Michaels, Gavel emphasized how essential the community has been in keeping the organization alive.
“It’s crazy to see how (Uniting Pride has) grown, and that is a huge part to the people over the last 15 years who have given us so much of their time and so much of their energy into making this organization what it is,” Gavel said. “I think that that’s a real testament to this community. And I’m really, really excited to see where we go next.”
