Loyola University Chicago

Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI)

Division of Student Development

Student Resources

Rainbow Connection

Rainbow Connection is an organization dedicated to serving Loyola by creating a safe and comfortable environment for folks in the queer and trans communities. We work towards improving inclusivity and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community on campus and Chicago-wide. We value ourselves as a safe space that is focused on queer/trans liberation and intersectionality. Rainbow Connections hosts events every semester. 

Learn more about upcoming programs and initiatives by following on Instagram @rainbow_connection_luc

Contact: advocateluc@gmail.com

 

Off-Campus Resources:

Affinity

Affinity is a not-for-profit grassroots organization that has been serving Chicago's black lesbian and bisexual women's community. Building upon the dedication of the founding members, Affinity has expanded into an institution that serves the entire Chicagoland and surrounding community. Historical elements of our work evolved out of Affinity's need to provide visibility, empowerment, and leadership for black lesbians.

 

Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA)

The Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA) is an educational, social, advocacy, and support group for gay, bisexual, or questioning men. For over a decade, ALMA has nurtured a group identity based on the experiences of gay Latino men and has become an important voice on social and political issues both locally and nationally.

 

Asians & Friends Chicago

Founded in 1984 to bring together gay people interested in developing a greater understanding of Asian cultures and in developing friendships through social, cultural and educational activities, Asians & Friends Chicago continues to offer opportunities to meet people and make friends in Chicago and beyond. 

 

Broadway Youth Center

The Broadway Youth Center (BYC) of Howard Brown Health is a haven for LGBTQ youth and young people experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Services include medical, social support, and mental health care. All services are for youth, ages 12 to 24 and anyone can access services regardless of ability to pay. To reach BYC, please call 773.388.1600 ext. 9. Located at 4009 N. Broadway.

BYC also offers confidential HIV testing and STI screenings for chlamydia/gonorrhea (urine test) with results in one week. Syphilis testing is provided during Health Services Clinic hours (listed below). Need your test results or want to find out if they’re in? Contact one of their health educators at 773.299.7621. No appointments necessary, walk-ins only.

Health Services Clinic Hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: Noon – 8 pm, last appointment is taken at 7 pm.

 

Center on Halsted

As the most comprehensive LGBT community center in the Midwest, the Center on Halsted serves as a catalyst for the LGBT community that links and provides community resources and enriches life experiences. Center on Halsted has become an exciting and highly visible symbol for the LGBT community of Chicago, serving diverse social, recreational, cultural, and social service needs of youth and adults in a safe, inviting and nurturing environment.  The Center offers support networks and programming to meet the cultural, emotional, social, educational and recreational needs of the LGBT community and friends. Current services include support groups for youth and seniors, mental health services, an info line for LGBT individuals and a hotline for HIV and STD concerns, prevention, treatment, and advocacy related to domestic violence, community technology center providing internet access and technology training and a range of life-enrichment programs. The Center on Halsted also houses a number of organizations serving Chicago’s LGBT community.

 

Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA)

CMSA is the largest not-for-profit gay and lesbian sports organization in the Midwest. It offers recreational and competitive level play in a variety of athletic leagues throughout the year. The league is open to all persons who wish to play, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.

 

Equality Illinois

The Mission of Equality Illinois is to secure, protect and defend equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Illinois. Equality Illinois envisions a fair and unified Illinois where everyone is treated equally with dignity and respect and where all people live freely regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

 

Gerber/Hart Library

Gerber/Hart Library was founded in 1981 to be a depository for the records of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and organizations, and for other resources bearing upon their lives and experiences in American society. Gerber/Hart Library has since grown into being the Midwest's largest LGBT circulating library with over 14,000 volumes, 800 periodical titles, and 100 archival collections.

 

Howard Brown Health Center                                                                

Founded in 1974, Howard Brown is now one of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizations. With an annual budget of over $15 million, the agency serves more than 28,000 adults and youth each year in its diverse health and social service delivery system focused around seven major programmatic divisions: primary medical care, behavioral health, research, HIV/STD prevention, youth services, elder services, and community initiatives. Howard Brown is a multi-site operation based in Chicago and includes a main health and research center in the Uptown neighborhood, Triad Health practice at Illinois Masonic Hospital, the Broadway Youth Center, and three Brown Elephant resale shops in Chicago and Oak Park.

 

Invisible to Invincible (i2i)         

Invisible to Invincible (i2i) is a community-based organization that celebrates and affirms Asian/Pacific Islanders who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning or Queer in the Chicago area.

 

Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal is the first national lesbian and gay organization with an office in the Midwest. The Midwest Regional Office (MRO) opened in Chicago in June 1993. Since then, Lambda Legal’s MRO has made a special commitment to litigation and education throughout its ten-state region.

 

LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois                                                                

The Illinois Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce seeks to develop, educate, support, and promote diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender businesses as well as our supportive businesses.