Twelve Interesting Facts About the Rainbow Mensans
- We have two members who appeared on Jeopardy. One of them became a champion.
- The other Jeopardy contestant also appeared successfully on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. (He was one step away from a million dollars when he stopped his play and took his winnings.)
- We have a three-time Ironman triathlete.
- We have a member of the Chicago LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame.
- We have a doctor who volunteers to teach other doctors in Ethiopia how to perform ear surgeries.
- We have a former member who was largely responsible for establishing the rules for transgender individuals competing in the Boston Marathon. (The adoption of the rules had a cascading effect with many other worldwide races adopting the same rules.)
- Current members of the Rainbow SIG collectively have traveled to 108 different countries. This does not include the past member who individually traveled to 125 countries.
- Sixty-four percent of Mensans nationwide have advanced degrees as do many members of the Rainbow SIG.
- One of our members is on the board of 15 which governs 50,000 Mensans nationwide.
- Our parent organization, Chicago Area MENSA®, has been voted the best local group in the nation 15 times out of 23 years. No other MENSA® group comes close.
- The Rainbow SIG is the most active local LGBTQ group in the country.
- Two of our members were the first couple nationwide to have met in MENSA® and subsequently marry in a same-sex ceremony.
Travel
As indicated above, our membership is widely traveled. There have been at least 300 visits in total to foreign countries by members of our group—that does not include repeat visits to the same country. One of our members has been to England dozens of times. The number of countries visited by an average participant in a group survey is 21. We recently lost a member who had been to 125 countries. He was not part of the survey.
Investing
Many of our members are quite frugal and at the same time avid investors in real estate, the stock market or both.