That’s the cover story for the July 2025 edition of MainStream, hitting streets and mailboxes throughout Iowa and Illinois starting tomorrow.
Here’s what you’ll find in this month’s 32-page edition, available by subscription for a small annual fee, or for free at almost 300 distribution spots throughout Illinois and Iowa.
• Bars Doing Well, Doing Good or Both: While the world is struggling in many spheres of LGBTQ+ culture, nightlife and bars aren’t among the trouble zones, at least in Iowa. A burst of expanded, innovative, or caring nightlife opportunities are springing up in not just Iowa’s Sioux City, Waterloo and the Quad Cities — but also in several Illinois pockets.
Above, the July 2025 MainStream cover features a scene from a recent Trivia Night at Mary’s on 2nd, one of three Iowa bar happenings highlighted in this months’ cover story.
• A service mentality shapes so many aspects of Peoria Proud and its annual River City Pride Festival, coming July 19. Learn in this news/feature about some of the ways community welfare will be on display at this year’s Pride event.
• At least another 15 Pride events are coming through October; explore Pride celebrations in Mason City and Marshalltown, Ia., nd at Pride Night at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, B-N PrideFest, and more in Illinois.
• Illinois and Iowa news nuggets featurie briefs about Amanda Epping of the Pride Sports League of Central Iowa, the African American Historical and Cultural Museum in Waterloo, East Moline’s uplifting flag experience, new stats on abortion and Illinois, and more.
• Bask in the memories, or at least the images, with our centerspread featuring pics from several highlight Pride events this June including the QC Unity Pride Parade Quad Cities Pride Festival by8 Nat20 Photography, and QC Sports in the Quad Cities; Pride on the Riverfront in Burlington, Ia.; and several Pride events featuring Peoria Proud members.
• Get a grasp of the most impactful U.S. Supreme Court rulings and Trump executive orders in June.
• Learn the physical and mental benefits of quality relationships, by Foundation 2 Crisis Services.
• Iowa Welcomes Its Immigrant Neighbors (Iowa WINS) has been serving the needs of immigrants since 2018 from Mount Pleasant, Ia., a town that seven years ago endured raids like those happening today nationwide. Learn from the insight of Oscar Argueta, who leads Iowa WINS’ Welcome Home Center.
• Chicago’s AIDS Run Walk is among several chances to help raise money for groups that serve people with HIV. Read about them and trends like a surge in HIV among those older than 50 in this months’ “HIV And…” section, made possible by the Illinois Public Health Association.
• It’s time to take on another of those “clobber passages” in the Bible used to condemn LGBTQ+ people. Pastor Tyler Yost looks long and hard at Leviticus.
• Plus, event highlights, Spirituality Events, the monthly Crossword, the new monthly Word Search, and some updates about some advertisers.
You can order home delivery of MainStream here — or, head to this interactive map to find a location near you that carries free copies of MainStream to take home, or a shared in-house copy for all patrons.
