More than 30 people from Carbondale and around southern Illinois came to the Rainbow Cafe Jan. 30, 2025 to take part in the Trans Unity Rally in Carbondale, Illinois.
“What do we want? Trans rights! When do we want it? Now!” and similar chants were shouted by protesters as they marched from the cafe to Carbondale’s City Hall. SIU student El said “I just wanted to stand up for what is right.”
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Benito Goff who led the protest said, “A couple of days ago, I noticed online that some of the organizations I follow were spreading information about a national movement for a transgender unity rally, which is what we’re hosting tonight.”
Goff said that the unity rally was an outlet for the trans community in Carbondale to express their feelings on what has happened in the first few days of Trump’s administration. “I think a lot of people are very excited about today because they have a lot of rage that’s built up over the past 10 days between the passport, between the Medicaid, between the military ban and everything else that is to come over the next two to four years,” Benito said. “They want an outlet to speak their minds.”
Goff said that he has been involved with the Rainbow Cafe Rainbow for nine years. “The Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ Center has been around since 2000,” Goff said. “I started coming to Rainbow Cafe when I was 16.”
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Goff said that some local Carbondale churches started the Rainbow Cafe as a youth group that was a safe place for LGBTQ+ teenagers.
“Eventually that grew into the nonprofit we have today,” Goff said. The cafe offers community services and behavioral health and wellness services, Goff said. “We provide mental health counseling, STD testing, HIV case count management as well as support groups.”
In addition to this, the cafe offers youth programs for people between the ages of 9 to 25 and programs for polyamorous individuals, queer adults, and queer elders as well.
Photo editor Enan Chediak can be reached at [email protected] or on Instagram at @enanchediak
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