It’s not surprising Project Rainbow of Iowa is getting the attention of local TV news outlets. After all, what the Des Moines-based nonprofit does is literally eye-catching.
Project Rainbow delivers Progress Pride flags for people to fly in their yards throughout the month of June, as a statement of support for the LGBTQ community during Pride Month, and as a way of raising money for other nonprofits.
“Last year we delivered about 35 flags,” founder Nick Klinkefus told Little Village in late May. “This year, it looks like it’s going to be between 250 and 275 flags.”
The way it works is simple. In March, Project Rainbow began taking orders for flags. Anyone within a 100-mile radius of Polk County could request one, in exchange for a $15 per flag donation. As Pride month begins in June, volunteer drivers deliver the flags, which are mounted on sections of PVC pipe that serve as flagpoles. A piece of rebar is included as a stake to hold up the flagpole after the PVC pipe is slipped over it. The volunteer will set up the flag, if the person who ordered wishes. At the end of the month, volunteers collect the flags, poles and rebar.
“Our core team is about six people, and then about 10 volunteers have expressed interest in helping with flag deliveries and other projects that come along,” Klinkefus explained. “We’re small, but mighty.”
Klinkefus moved to Iowa from his home state of Utah about three years ago. Back in Salt Lake City, he had been a volunteer for the Project Rainbow Utah, which started delivering Pride flags for the month of June in 2018.
“I know from my experience growing up queer, and as gay man in Utah, the impact the flags can have,” Klinkefus said. “Being able to see more rainbow flags, more signs of support, meant a lot to me as a person in a difficult state, where the politics surrounding LGBTQ issues are complicated at best.”
After moving to Des Moines to work on his Ph.D., Klinkefus said he realized, “here in Iowa, we’re in very similar political situations and circumstances.”
“I knew that this was a way I could possibly make an impact, increase visibility and provide support for our neighbors who otherwise might feel that there’s no place for them in Iowa,” he added.
So Klinkefus reached out to Lucas Horns, the founder of Project Rainbow Utah to ask about starting an Iowa version.
“Lucas was really gracious and willing to let us do it, even providing advice on getting started,” he said.
Last year, Project Rainbow of Iowa selected the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund (ITMAF) as the recipient of the donations it collected. ITMAF was founded in June 2021, “on the belief that every Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse Iowa should have access to gender-affirming care,” the nonprofit explains on its site. The fund “provides small grants to Iowans seeking this care.”
ITMAF will be a recipient again this year, and Project Rainbow will also be donating to Iowa Safe Schools. Damian Thompson, director of external affairs for Iowa Safe Schools, said his group was excited to partner with Project Rainbow of Iowa on its work.
“We’ve become very close with Nick and his team, they’re doing outstanding work,” Thompson said. “I’m proud to fly one of their flags in my own yard.”
Iowa Safe Schools was founded in 2002 to address the problem of bullying in schools.
“Even to this day, it’s a major issue,” Thompson said. “Not only broadly speaking with student populations, but particularly in the data we see that LGBTQ students, then and now, face the highest rates of bullying, discrimination and harassment. Our organization was founded to go into schools, work with students, educators and families to ensure that all students who are bullied or face discrimination or harassment, have the support networks that they need and the tools that they need to be successful.”
The Des Moines-based nonprofit works with students, educators and families in all of Iowa’s 99 counties “to ensure that all students who are bullied or face discrimination or harassment, have the support networks that they need and the tools that they need to be successful,” Thompson explained.
Much of Iowa Safe Schools’ day-to-day work focuses on student-organized GSAs (GSA stands for Gay Straight Alliance or Gender Sexuality Alliance, depending on what term the students prefer) .
“Unfortunately, most of the work we do through the GSA network is victim support work,” Thompson said. “Helping students who have been victimized either by other students, members of the community or even people in the education system, and also working to make sure the school administration has what they need to make sure students are protected in the future.”
But in addition to its work with students and school districts, Iowa Safe Schools quickly emerged as a powerful voice advocating for LGBTQ causes at the Iowa State Capitol. In 2007, the group played an important part in persuading lawmakers to pass the Iowa Safe Schools Act, which required all school districts to have anti-bullying policies in place, and to amend the Iowa Civil Rights Act to include protection for sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Those are the crowning jewels legislatively, so to speak, of our organization,” Thompson said. “It was a big year.”
“Both those things had bipartisan support. That’s not something we would see today on anything protecting LGBTQ students.”
As the Republicans who control the Iowa Legislature and governor’s office have increasingly embraced anti-LGBTQ agendas promoted by national rightwing groups, making public statements of support for the LGTBQ community are increasingly important, Thompson said.
“Having that visible allyship with the flags is important,” he added. “Whether it’s a student walking to a friends house or walking to school, and just seeing Pride flags or I’m an ally stickers or pins, in their community, especially in time like now when they feel isolated and under attack, those little things can really make a difference in a student’s day, and ultimately can be life-saving.”
That’s a message that Klinkefus echoes. He said Project Rainbow of Iowa hopes to keep growing in the years to come, expanding both its reach and its activities.
“We want to show people that there is support for them, and a place for them in this state.”
A slightly shorter version of this article was originally published in Little Village’s June 2024 issue.