Alyssa Billington is a Postdoc Research Associate in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS).

The Rainbow Extension 3.0 project began in 2018 and was funded through an Extension Collaboration Grant. This project came from a desire to utilize Illinois Extension to support LGBTQ+ persons in communities all across the state, particularly those in non-metropolitan areas.

Research shows that LGBTQ+ individuals experience amplified risk for poor physical and mental health and that rural LGBTQ+ people report greater exposure to discrimination and prejudice than their urban counterparts. Building community support for LGBTQ+ individuals and families has been found to buffer poor health outcomes. We believed that enhancing Illinois Extension programming and outreach to be affirming of LGBTQ+ individuals could lead to improved individual, family, and community well-being. 

The objectives of this project were to:

1. Assess Extension educators' perceptions of the needs, barriers, and social climate experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals in their communities.
2. To provide information to Extension educators about broad LGBTQ+ issues.
3. To gather information on LGBTQ+ populations in Illinois that is relevant to Extension programming.
4. To encourage Extension educators to incorporate this information in their programming.

The project met these objectives across several phases. 

Phase 1 - Collecting Data

In the first phase, we collected baseline data regarding Extension personnel's attitudes toward LGBTQ+ persons, Illinois LGBTQ+ policy knowledge, and LGBTQ+ cultural competency. Most participants indicated that someone they are close to identifies as LGBTQ+, however, most indicated that they rarely engaged with LGBTQ+ audiences in their work with Extension.

This sample held highly positive attitudes toward LGBTQ+ persons and was moderate to highly knowledgeable about Illinois LGBTQ+ policy. However, these participants only felt moderately culturally competent regarding discussing and handling LGBTQ+ issues in their work. Response to open-ended questions demonstrated that most Extension personnel were aware that there were likely LGBTQ+ individuals in their communities and taking part in their programming. However, many felt that the topics of their programs (e.g., agriculture or nutrition education) were not relevant to the sexual and/or gender identities of the participants in their programming.

Related to this question of relevancy, many participants indicated that the sexual and/or gender identities of their participants were not relevant in their programming because they want to treat everyone equally, regardless of sexuality, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.

Finally, some participants indicated awareness of potential needs and barriers of LGBTQ+ persons living in small and/or rural communities by saying that they thought that LGBTQ+ persons might fear rejection in these areas.

Phase 2 - Educational Webinars

In phase two, we produced five educational webinars for Extension educators on issues LGBTQ+ individuals in their communities frequently encounter, as well as potential strategies Extension educators can employ to increase the community support available to LGBTQ+ individuals.

After the webinar series concluded, the project team presented at each regional meeting. We utilized these meetings to present the survey results and open-ended responses from phase one, outline the rest of the project, and briefly recapitulate the content presented in the webinars so that everyone in attendance had some baseline knowledge to stimulate group discussions.

At each regional meeting, we presented the information, asked Extension personnel to gather in small groups, and asked them to respond to the following questions:

1) Have you seen examples of some of these issues in your own work?

2) How could you use this information?

3) What help or resources do you think would be useful to you to make your programming and/or practices more LGBTQ-inclusive and affirming?

Broadly, these comments included the need for sensitivity training for staff and volunteers, the need to establish a clear diversity and inclusion statement that everyone is familiar with, the need to amend forms to be more inclusive, and the desire for a "best practices" guide that covers how to include LGBTQ populations in programming and how to respond to individuals in the community who oppose these efforts of inclusion.

Phase 3 - Finding Solutions 

In phase three, we interviewed Extension personnel from each region about their perceptions of needs and barriers for LGBTQ+ individuals in their communities, as well as their perception of the social climate. We also asked what they wanted to know about LGBTQ+ individuals in their communities to serve them better.

Generally, participants felt that urban areas and the UIUC campus were more supportive of LGBTQ+ persons. In contrast, more rural areas ranged from tolerant to hostile. Characteristics of tolerance included no overt discrimination, few LGBTQ+-inclusive spaces, no LGBTQ+-specific resources, and a general "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Within Extension itself, participants felt that the social climate ranged from tolerant to supportive of LGBTQ+ persons depending on the specific area within Extension. 4-H was perceived as one of the more conservative branches of Extension. Participants had low awareness of LGBTQ+ persons in their communities, limited awareness of LGBTQ+ resources available near them, and general discomfort with LGBTQ+ topics (linked to low knowledge level about LGBTQ+ issues).

Additionally, LGBTQ+ issues were mostly seen as irrelevant to Extension topics and programming besides the acknowledged need to create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ persons. LGBTQ+ issues were perceived to be more relevant to 4-H educators due to working with youth. Through these interviews, we found that Extension can leverage the "life-long learner" values embedded in the institution to improve LGBTQ+ cultural competency. Furthermore, Extension also values inclusion and can incorporate LGBTQ+ topics into existing diversity training and partner with relevant organizations. Finally, we used information gathered in these interviews to inform questions for the Rainbow Illinois 2021 survey.

Rainbow Illinois is a survey meant to capture the experiences of LGBTQ individuals and families from downstate Illinois. Rainbow Illinois has thus far occurred in two waves, 2000-2001 and 2010-2011, and asks LGBTQ+ individuals about their perceptions of social climate, physical/mental health, family life, relationships, and connection to the community. In phase four, we distributed the next wave (2020).

We extended the survey to all of Illinois (not just downstate). We added questions to ask LGBTQ+ individuals about their experiences with Extension. These questions provided information about the degree to which LGBTQ+ individuals across Illinois interacted with Extension and provided some insight as to how well Extension is serving this population.

We are still analyzing some of this data, but generally, we have found that most Rainbow Illinois 2021 participants who responded to the questions regarding Extension indicated that they had minimal, if any, interaction with Extension and essentially did not know that Extension was a resource that could benefit them.

Some participants expressed concerns regarding safety or experiencing stigma in accessing Extension resources. Participants suggested several topics/issues relevant to them that Extension could address including education on physical and mental health and improving social climate in their communities.

In addition to continuing to analyze this data, we are using it to inform the development of Rainbow Extension 4.0 which will be an LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for Extension. Dr. Courtney Cuthbertson is leading this initiative and receiving funding from an Extension Collaboration Grant.