Rev. Jamie Frazier founded Lighthouse Church and later Lighthouse Foundation out of a need for Black queer representation. Now, in the face of a second Trump administration, they’re being put to the test.
From reporting the Black Queer Equity Index to hosting self-care nights for Black queer people, Frazier said Lighthouse Foundation is committed to supporting the community throughout this administration’s tenure. Windy City Times spoke with Frazier about some of the organization’s recent successes as well as its plans for the rest of 2025.
WCT: Now that the Lighthouse Foundation has been in existence for six years as of 2025, how has the landscape for Black queer folks changed in that time?
JF: I feel like in some ways, we are almost back to where we started in terms of Lighthouse Foundation, with the ascension of Trump and how that will impact funding for Black and LGBTQ+ communities. How will that impact our culture? How will people treat our communities?
In Chicago, I have seen strides towards greater equity within Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. Small, performative things like changing Boystown to Northalsted, but deeper, more profound change like organizations participating in the Black Queer Equity Index(BQEI) and undergoing structural change over these past years. In my opinion, it looks much better for Black queer people in Chicago.
However, I think we are at risk for falling right back into some of the challenges we had before with Trump’s election. We made a shift three years ago to becoming proactive—when you wait for something racist to happen, you’re always going to be reactive. But we started thinking about how we could proactively create structural justice in a way that is measured and evidence based, creating the BQEI.
WCT: The Black Queer Equity Index is in its second year, correct?
JF: Yes, it’s annual. In March 2024, we announced grades for our first four organizations — Center on Halsted, AIDS Foundation Chicago, Chicago House and Howard Brown. This year, we are re-grading those organizations and adding another four organizations, with three from out of state, and potentially another local one.
The BQEI is an ever-growing, ever-expanding project, and now that we have a national cohort, it gives us the ability to speak to the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community throughout the nation. We’re also able to learn from partners in other parts of the nation.
WCT: What has it been like to follow the original Chicago-based groups for two years now?
JF: I’m incredibly proud of our original four organizations for the ways they’ve invested in this project. All four have been in constant communication with us, reviewing the rubric and looking to make meaningful policy and practice changes. And not just to increase their grade, but to ultimately build a better, more resourced workforce.
WCT: Aside from the BQEI, what were some of the major accomplishments for Lighthouse Foundation in 2024?
JF: We conducted a community needs assessment and received responses from 500 LGBTQ+ people in Cook County—asking questions like, ‘Do you have a job?’ or ‘What do you need in order to obtain employment?’ and also a lot of questions around PrEP, PEP and Hepatitis C.
We also launched our first annual beach party and took over 63rd Street Beach—there needs to be a lot more happening on the South Side. We also had 10 partner organizations like Center on Halsted and Brave Space Alliance, so folks were able to also [obtain] vaccinations, HIV testing, and linkage to care—through Lighthouse Foundation.
We traditionally have not done direct service, but we began asking, “How do we better and more deeply serve the community?” It awakened within us a desire to become a one-stop shop.
WTC: What are some plans you have for 2025?
JF: There are four big things happening. We’ll be releasing the results of the community needs assessment, and the results of this year’s BQEI grading. I’m excited about being able to share what has changed concretely in BQEI-surveyed organizations.
A third thing is bringing back our core events such as our annual beach day, skate party and self-care recharges. The fourth thing to be on the lookout for is a very aggressive campaign to oppose any racist, problematic, or structurally unjust decisions by the Trump administration. In our opinion, this is not a time to find the strategy, this is a time to work the strategy you should have been cultivating.
WCT: We talked earlier about not knowing what’s going to happen during the next four years of the Trump administration. Have there been any talks among you, your peers or others in Lighthouse Foundation about what your role could be during this administration?
JF: We’ve had lots of internal dialogue, both before and after the election. One thing I think adequately speaks to who we are as an organization and how we’ll position ourselves this administration is our BQEI Happy Hour recharge. It was an event that happened two days after the election, and we did self care for Black LGBTQ+ nonprofit board members, employees and accomplices in the nonprofit space.
We brought in massage therapists. We brought in folks that did stretching. We brought in folks that did large group sessions around mindfulness, ways to celebrate our body and be present in our body. We did that because we want to impart the necessary skills to survive the next four years—and the key to that is self care. We sponsor three to four self-care recharges every year where we bring together Black queer folks, bringing together a bunch of Black queer healing practitioners.
At the BQEI Happy Hour, we also brought in three really powerful Black queer leaders to the stage to ask them how they were practicing self-care and strategizing to deal with the administration right after the election. I believe this is an important moment for non-profit organizations to pursue evidence-based strategies—we need to be pulling from the best of our research. And we need to facilitate rest.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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