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Present-day LGBTQIA+ hoosiers, like U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, continue the vital support and advocacy work begun by Indiana’s homegrown heroes of the past. Over the past few decades, communities within both Indianapolis and South Bend have built LGBTQIA+ centers to serve Indiana residents. But LGBTQIA+ communities exist throughout Indiana and many maintain the legacy left behind by people like Christopher (Chris) T. Gonzalez. Through his professional life, activism, and sexuality, he paved the way for generations of LGBTQIA+ people to live in a more accepting and equitable society.

Just a few minutes off the Pennsy Greenway stands Griffith High School (GHS) in Griffith, Indiana—the hometown of Chris Gonzalez. Gonzalez was born in 1963 and grew up in Griffith, where he was well-liked and a model student. At GHS, he was student council president as well as a trumpeter in the jazz band and a journalist for the school newspaper. [1] During this time period, he kept his homosexuality secret, to avoid tension within his religious Hispanic family.

In the early 1980s, Gonzalez attended Franklin College in central Indiana. There he met his life partner, Jeff Werner, and began volunteering as a counselor for the Gay/Lesbian Switchboard—a telephone hotline for LGBTQIA+ youth. Gonzalez no longer hid his sexuality from the people around him. Despite his fear of coming out to his parents as a gay man, he was met with his family’s love and acceptance. After working at the switchboard, he started to notice a pattern in the deadly challenges faced by the LGBTQIA+ community: homelessness, a high suicide rate, and HIV & AIDS. Having experienced his own hardships, Gonzalez began holding small group meetings at his home outside of Indianapolis to foster community and educate youth on AIDS prevention. The group named itself the Indianapolis Youth Group (IYG) and, after its founding in 1987, it expanded to include the first national toll-free hotline for LGBTQIA+ youth. Gonzalez’s leadership in IYG brought their mission to the national spotlight, garnering attention from major news outlets and the Indiana Department of Health. At least 10 chapters of IYG opened around the state to provide more widespread access to AIDS prevention education and safe spaces for frequently disenfranchised queer youth. [2,3] As a result, IYG became the Indiana Youth Group.

Gonzalez became an ambassador LGBTQIA+ people within the state. In an interview with the Indianapolis Star, Gonzalez said that having Indiana be a leader in serving the LGBTQIA+ community was “something every Hoosier ought to be proud of.” [2] Even after his death in 1994, his legacy remains present in IYG and all the LGBTQIA+ centers whose conception Gonzalez inspired.

Discovering America: Reconnecting People and Places

The Great American Rail-Trail promises an all-new American experience. Through 12 states and the District of Columbia, the trail will directly serve nearly 50 million people within 50 miles of the route. Across the nation—and the world—only the limits of imagination will limit its use.

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