Illinois has strengthened its protections for LGBTQ people in recent years. But just across the border, the picture looks different: Iowa has stripped gender identity from its civil rights law, Missouri's Supreme Court has upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and Indiana's governor has declared June "Nuclear Family Month." All of it comes as a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to exclude transgender women and girls from female sports teams — and as national polling shows support for LGBTQ rights slipping from its peak.

We talk with LGBTQ advocates from across the region — in the Quad Cities, St. Louis, and Evansville, Indiana — about what's changed, how their communities are adapting, and what Pride means as the political climate shifts.

For generations, gays and lesbians often found community in bars. That’s changed in recent years, but political events — and the corporate pullback from pride — have LGBTQ Americans thinking more about separate places they can be themselves.

To help us unpack the examples of blowback to Pride campaigns and how it fits into the history of corporate Pride, we were joined by an LGBTQ advocate, the owner of an LGBTQ newspaper and an Illinois state lawmaker.

Today on the 21st, we check in with reporters around the state for the latest on COVID-19 and protests over police violence from across the state, we have a conversation about pride and rebellion and we see what a year without corn dogs and state fairs looks like.

June is Pride Month, and you may have seen hundreds of big box stores selling rainbow merchandise. But when did pride become profitable, and where do brands actually stand on LGBTQ issues? Plus, thousands of Illinois patients have been affected by data breaches in the last year. We’ll talk about what hospitals are doing about it and how you can protect your information. And we’re continuing our weeklong series featuring podcasts you can listen to this summer.