Unsung Hero Spotlight: Rainbow Railroad

Medically reviewed by Monica Johnson, PsyD

In 2023 alone, legislators across 46 states proposed more than 650 pieces of legislation to curtail the rights of queer and trans people in the U.S. The purpose of these bills, to eradicate LGBTQIA+ people from public life, is clear and chilling.

At the same time, countries across the world continue to criminalize and punish LGBTQIA+ individuals for existing. There are at least 67 countries with laws that criminalize same-sex relations, even between consenting adults. Some of these countries punish “sodomy” with the death penalty. Queer and trans individuals globally are endangered for no other reason than who they are.

That’s where an organization like Rainbow Railroad comes in. Founded in 2006 as a volunteer-run organization focused on helping LGBTQIA+ individuals in dire circumstances, Rainbow Railroad has since significantly expanded. We spoke with Head of Development Dane Bland about the organization’s impact and the initiatives it has in place to keep helping more and more LGBTQIA+ people.

Rainbow Railroad Has a Unique Ability to Offer Help

Bland shares that when it was founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad functioned on a “one-to-one” case-by-case basis and had a maximum of 12 volunteers who gave their time and resources when they were able to do so. “That’s very and remarkably different from how the operation looks today,” Bland says.

In 2013, the organization registered in Canada; in 2015, it registered in the U.S., and since then, Rainbow Railroad has expanded greatly: In 2022, Bland said, people from 114 countries reached out to the organization for assistance. A total of 10,000 individuals made requests in 2022, and 2023 is on track to see similar numbers. That represents an 800% increase in requests since 2017, Bland adds.

Rainbow Railroad is unique among organizations in that it is the only one created to specifically help LGBTQIA+ individuals, wherever they are, at whatever stage of needing help they're in. They provide mental health support, connections to on-the-ground organizations that can help, and cash assistance to LGBTQIA+ individuals in need.

“We are unique in the way that we help people through emergency evacuations and through partnerships with governments get people out of their countries and into safer ones through emergency evacuation and relocation,” Bland said. “We provide post-travel assistance ensuring that people at the end stages of their journey are protected, they receive the health care, mental health care, legal referrals, and aid, etc., cash that they need to be able to resettle into their new countries…Rainbow Railroad does all of that, and we’re the only org that does all of their services for the LGBTQI+ communities specifically.”

How Rainbow Railroad Facilitates the Journey

The biggest thing Rainbow Railroad does is provide emergency travel assistance to people in danger. The process includes three steps, beginning with intense verification to determine how best to assist people.

“There is no AI or machine learning when it comes to the ways in which Rainbow Railroad identifies the needs of the people who are reaching out for our assistance. We have a team of human beings who reviews every single case through extraordinary detail. That is so significant that governments trust us and seek to learn from it,” Bland says.

The next step involves research to find a way toward safety, and finally, travel is organized. “We provide travel to a safer country where the person’s basic rights and freedoms are upheld,” Rainbow Railroad's website reads.

Bland adds that during all of these steps, Rainbow Railroad offers assistance and support to activists and organizations on the ground. “We operate on a model that centers our partners and the individuals that are seeking our assistance,” he said. “It’s something that we are candidly obsessed with in the way in which we can empower the self-determination, advocacy, and rights of individuals who are seeking our care and assistance. We operate on a model that centers the experiences of activists who have been fighting this fight in their countries and in their homes for sometimes decades. Our model empowers those people.”

The total cost to move one person to safety, Bland says, comes in at around $10,000, and the vast majority of the organization’s funding comes from individuals who make an average contribution of $33. In 2022, Rainbow Railroad moved 325 people to safety. 

The Real Unsung Heroes

One of the people Rainbow Railroad assisted in 2022 was Latoya, a Jamaican human rights defender who was facing persecution at home and whom the organization helped travel to safety.

Bland shares that Latoya is still in touch with Rainbow Railroad and seeking ways to continue to support other LGBTQIA+ individuals around the world.

“Last year Rainbow Railroad provided support to 4,457 LGBTQI+ people,” Bland says. “That's a remarkable number, and over 10,000 in our history…It’s a sea of human beings. When you take a moment and realize that every single one of those human beings has a story, has self-determination, has the right and desire to live openly and freely, has taken their lives into their own hands by reaching out to Rainbow Railroad for assistance…an act which by the way in the majority of these countries is an illegal act in and of itself. They simply have the belief that they can and should live life of their own choosing, love who they love, express themselves freely, the right to self-determination. Rainbow Railroad’s simple job is to facilitate the journey."

“Rainbow Railroad is not the unsung hero,” Bland adds. “We are the facilitators of the journeys of unsung heroes who are the people who reach out to us every single day who we do our best to help. They are the heroes of their own stories, all we are doing is we are trying to provide the resources and environment that will enable them to get themselves to safety through their own extraordinary bravery and difficult work. It’s a privilege for us to be facilitators of that heroism.”

Upcoming Initiatives

In January 2023, Rainbow Railroad announced a new initiative: Welcome Corps. This program empowers everyday Americans and Canadians to privately sponsor LGBTQIA+ refugees and to help them resettle in the United States.

“Everyday Americans can gather together in communities of five or more and provide community support and safety to an LGBTQI+ person who we’re resettling into the United States,” Bland explains. “We’re launching this in Chicago, D.C., and the Bay Area, which are extraordinary welcoming communities for refugees and LGBTQI+ people and celebratory of LGBTQI+ people. We’re calling it a program with an aim to build communities of care, which are groups of people who are gonna help someone in their journey to safety. Having a network of people who are ready to provide community support, psychosocial support, and just be a friend and a contact is so extraordinarily valuable.”

Bland touches on the rising tide of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in the U.S., emphasizing that the country still has federal protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Rainbow Railroad, he says, is actively monitoring the upcoming legislative moves to strip those protections, saying, “We are part of the Council for Global Equality that right now is responding in real-time to these legislative pushes because we disagree with this…We shouldn’t just be leaving behind in this fight, and say ‘Florida is a hellhole and we’re gonna pretend it doesn’t exist now.’ It leaves behind the community that’s there and that’s something I don’t think we can afford to do. Those people want to know that their community…is something that matters.”

In addition to the rising tides of “populism” in states like Florida and Texas, Bland pointed out that there are states that are enshrining LGBTQIA+ protections into law and said, “There are also parts of the United States that are so radically, beautifully, wonderfully accepting. We don’t talk enough about that part of it, either. I think the Welcome Corps program inside of these places can be a beacon for what positive community activism and engagement means within the LGBTQI+ community in spite of it all.”

Related: Florida Set to Pass “Don’t Say Gay” Bill—What It Means and Why It’s Problematic

How to Get Involved

There are four ways to get involved and help Rainbow Railroad, Bland says. The first two are free: Follow Rainbow Railroad (their handle is @RainbowRailroad across platforms) on social media, and commit to staying educated and up-to-date on issues and challenges facing LGBTQIA+ individuals worldwide.

Other ways to get involved include volunteering. While the Welcome Corps program is currently based in D.C., Chicago, and the Bay Area, anyone can sign up to express interest in the program. The only commitment to signing up is a commitment to receiving more information, Bland says.

Finally, Rainbow Railroad is always in need of donations. “Our mission is logistically complicated and very expensive,” Bland says. “Incredible support to a community.”

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