Wednesday Journal Pride 062619

of OPALGA

since STONEWALL

First OPALGA float in the Chicago Pride Parade, 1990

50TH ANNUAL PARADE Guide to Pride Weekend PAGE B2

30 YEARS

30 PORTRAITS

DOING BUSINESS

PASSING THE TORCH

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OPALGA Going Strong

The OPALGA Story

In Our Community

Outreach To Youth

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June 19, 2019

Chicago 50th Annual Pride Parade The 50th Annual Chicago Pride Parade & Festivals A new event, Pride in the Park, takes over Chicago’s historic Grant Park on Saturday, June 29, 2019. The parade takes place over a four-mile route on Sunday, June 30, 2019.

When is Chicago Pride?

The Chicago PrideFest two-day celebration takes place the weekend before the parade, Saturday and Sunday, June 22 -23, 2019. Pride in the Park is Saturday, June 29, 2019 and the Chicago Pride Parade steps off on Sunday, June 30, 2019

The Parade The parade theme this year is “Stonewall 50: “MILLIONS of MOMENTS of PRIDE.” The 50th annual Chicago Pride Parade marches through the city’s Boystown neighborhood with the annual parade kicking off at noon on Sunday, June 30, 2019, at Montrose Avenue and Broadway in the Uptown neighborhood. The parade winds (map) its way through the north side of the city, ending near the intersection of Diversey Parkway and Sheridan Road in Lincoln Park. Pride Month in June highlights Chicago’s vibrant LGBT community. The energy in the city peaks on Pride Weekend, which falls on the last weekend of June each year to commemorate the Stonewall Riots.

2019 marks the 50th Anniversary of the

uprising, outside New York’s landmark Stonewall Inn, which began the Gay Rights Movement.

The roar of the crowd heralds the start of the Pride Parade, a dazzling cavalcade of diversity. The streets are lined 30 – 40 people deep in spots as over 1 million people cheer the contingents on and enjoy the show, culture and experience! For the liveliest viewing spots head to the Boystown section of North Halsted Street, between Belmont Avenue and Grace Street. If you are seeking a less crowded area to view the parade, look for your viewing spots north of Irving Park Road, along Broadway or further along Broadway between Belmont Avenue and Diversey Parkway.

Pride in the Park This year also marks the first annual Pride in the Park on Saturday, June 29 in downtown’s Grant Park.

The day of revelry will include acts ranging from Todrick Hall and Taylor Dayne to Tamar Braxton and Iggy Azalea and runs from 1 – 10 p.m.

Chicago PrideFest On the weekend before the Pride Parade, on Friday and Saturday, June 22 and 23, Chicago’s famous Boystown neighborhood hosted the PrideFest, the city’s pre-Parade celebration with a half-mile of vendors and stages with a grand entertainment line-up.

Fifty Years of Pride The annual Pride Celebration commemorates the rebellion of LGBT patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village in response to a routine police raid on June 27, 1969. The following year, a “Gay-In” took place on June 27, 1970 that was the early progenitor of the current Pride Celebration.

Since 1972, the event has been held every year.

Since its modest beginnings, Chicago Pride has grown to be one the largest and most wellknown Pride events in the world. Pride has come to symbolize several things: the long history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender dignity, the freedom of all people to meaningfully and proudly express their sexual and gender identities, and the commitment of LGBT people to combat oppression.

Do I need a ticket to get into Pride?

There is no fee to attend the Pride Fest or watch the Parade. A voluntary donation is requested at the entry gates to Pride Fest.

This donation goes back to community support programs. The Pride in the Park event on June 29 does require a ticket. Further information for that event can be found at prideintheparkchicago.com.

Are pets allowed?

Yes, pets are allowed, including, of course, service animals assisting people with accessibility needs. We do, however, strongly recommend leaving pets at home since both the Parade and Festival are noisy, crowded, and hot.

Senator

Representative

Don Harmon

Camille Lilly

Assistant Majority Leader

6937 W. North Avenue Oak Park, IL 60302 (773) 473-7300

6941-B W. North Ave Senator OakDon Park, IL 60302 Harmon Assistant Majority Leader (708) 848-2002 6941-B W. North Ave Park, IL 60302 329Oak Capitol Building (708) 848-2002 Springfield, IL 62706 329 Capitol Building (217) 782-8176 Springfield, IL 62706 (217) 782-8176

www.donharmon.org www.donharmon.org harmon@senatedem.illinois.gov harmon@senatedem.illinois.gov

Representative

Camille Lilly 6937 W. North Avenue Oak Park, IL 60302 (773) 473-7300 200-8S Stratton Office Building Springfield, IL 62706 (217) 782-6400 staterepcamilleylilly@gmail.com

200-8S Stratton Office Building Springfield, IL 62706 (217) 782-6400 staterepcamilleylilly@gmail.com

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DPOP@DONHARMON.ORG 6941-A W. NORTH AVENUE OAK PARK, ILLINOIS 60302 (708) 386-0090

June 26, 2019

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Thirty years young and going strong

BY LACEY SIKORA

I

Contributing Reporter

n 1989, the Village of Oak Park was reviewing its human rights ordinance and diversity statement, and a group of citizens decided that the time was ripe to add sexual orientation to these codes. Nathan Linsk recalls that the 1980’s were a very different time in Oak Park. “There really was no group here for gay and lesbian residents.

There were two gay bars in Forest Park, but no organizations.”

Linsk, along with his partner and future husband Mel Wilson, was an early proponent of forming a group.

Around that time, they had joined the efforts of local attorney Angelika Kuehn to discuss the disproportionate number of HIV cases locally and hospice issues. They had also been contacted by Sandra Sokol from the village about participating in a Holocaust remembrance event to shed light on the Nazi’s targeting of gays and lesbians, and were working with the local health department on HIV awareness events. As Linsk recalls, “Things were coming together.”

Linsk, Wilson and co-founder Brian Findlay, along with other volunteers they’d met through groups such as Horizons, now the Center on Halsted, and Lavender Bouquet, worked to get both campaigns for Village Trustee, VMA and Common Sense, to commit to adding sexual orientation to the ordinance and statement.

Linsk says, “Mel got both campaigns to commit to adding it. VMA won and passed a human rights ordinance and diversity statement. Now, we had to form an organization.

Mel and I hosted a meeting for two dozen people, and out of this came the Oak Park Gay and Lesbian Association.”

The early days of the group now known as OPALGA were focused on activism. Linsk states, “We started because there were people who really wanted to make sure that gay and lesbian people felt protected in Oak Park. We

wanted it to include both men and women.

Most organizations at the time tended to be either gay or lesbian. It was important to us that we all work together.”

Some of the efforts of the first few years included providing the police department with sensitivity training and working with PFLAG to create a youth center in town.

Roger Wilson, current co-chair of OPALGA says that much of those early years were consumed with activism because the village was in a different place then.

“At that point in time, the real issue was the need for advocacy.

We worked with the village board and high school to get things in writing.”

His co-chair Alisa Ray, says of that time, “It was about recognition and legitimization.”

They both note that OPALGA was founded twenty years after Stonewall, which they say in many people’s minds is the beginning of the gay rights movement.

Sharing OPALGA’s thirtieth anniversary with the fiftieth anniversary of Stonewall is a great marker of how far the country and the community have come.

Ray points out that although OPALGA was initially founded to nudge institutions and the community into changing their thinking on gay and lesbian issues, “the Oak Park community was receptive to all of that nudging. The Police Department took the meeting with OPALGA. The Village Board was responsive.”

Wilson chimes in, “Joanne Trapani was elected our first gay trustee in 2000 and became village president in 2002. Today, the Village declares June Pride month and recognizes the change we’ve brought to Oak Park and the surrounding areas.”

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OPALGA members at a wine-tasting night at The Careful Peach, one of many fun cooperative events.

As times have changed, so has OPALGA’s role in the community. They no longer run the youth center, in large part because the local schools have taken on that role by offering support groups and outlets for all gay, lesbian, transgender or non-binary students.

Another change? All of the local gay bars have closed, Wilson stresses, “This is not because they were driven out but because people used to feel that these were the only places that people could express themselves and be together. Now, we can go any place we want and feel comfortable.

The need for a separate place is just not there.”

Both Ray and Wilson say that OPALGA has transformed from a group focused on activism to an organization that is focused on offering social outlets and supports.

One thing that hasn’t changed? The group’s recognition of the importance of getting together. Since 1989, OPALGA has been hosting monthly potlucks at members’ and supporters’ homes. Wilson says the events bring out some of the best food you’ll ever eat, and stresses that events are open to everyone: gay,

Now, we can go any place we want and feel comfortable. The need for a separate place is just not there.

straight and allies.

Looking forward to the next thirty years, OPALGA conducted a survey of its membership last year to determine what direction members wanted to go in the future. The results overwhelmingly pointed to a heightened interest in reaching out to the community. One way to do this is to increase the volunteer work OPALGA already does throughout the community: from running the donut booth at the Oak Park Farmers Market to volunteering with the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Members also wanted to continue to support the youth in the village through ties with the local school districts and through their scholarship program for local students.

Ray and Wilson are co-chairing this year’s OPALGA gala in October, which raises funds for scholarships for students in and around Oak Park. Ray says, “People really want to expand the numbers and amounts of the scholarships and expand the reach by not only providing financial support but by supporting the students and families emotionally as well.”

She sums up what OPALGA means to her and she thinks to others, “For me, there’s such a great sense of community and connection. It goes both ways.”

For more information please contact Dawn Ferencak at (708) 613-3329

Pride.

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June 26, 2019

30 portraits: A history and timeline of the OPALGA story PROVIDED

After party for 4th of July parade marchers, 2018

W

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Contributing Reporter

hen Nathan Linsk, his partner Mel Wilson, and Brian Findlay helped to co-found OPALGA in 1989, the world and the community were in a different place than they are today. In large part to OPALGA’s activism and early members’ dedication, Oak Park is a more tolerant and more supportive place to live, work and visit.

Wilson and Findlay have passed away, and Linsk not only continues to play an active role in OPALGA but has also become a sort of de facto records keeper for the organization. He notes that he has boxes of memorabilia that he has preserved over the past three decades, but says there is much more to preserving history than newspaper clippings and letters.

“We realized that we needed people’s recollections,” he states. He recalls a story of a particularly acrimonious letter to the editor from a member of the Community of Churches regarding OPALGA’s presence and influence in Oak Park shortly after OPALGA was founded. “Our booth at Day in Our Village that year happened to be right next to the Community of Churches’ booth. We ended up talking with

the woman who wrote that letter and those conversations helped her change her mind.

Stories like these are getting lost.”

Today, a group of OPALGA members are meeting regularly with the intention of writing down the stories of OPALGA’s past to preserve them. Linsk wants those who were involved to tell the stories themselves.

As part of this initiative, OPALGA is planning a fall exhibit with the Oak Park River Forest History Museum. Board member emeritus Colette Lueck says, “It’s our thirtieth anniversary, and we really wanted to take the time at this moment to tell the story of what happened in our past and where we’re headed. We are planning an exhibit called 30 Portraits that is designed to show what OPALGA means to various members and their individual reasons for being drawn to OPALGA.” OPALGA member Bob Trezevant says that part of the exhibit will be based on boards created for OPALGA’s October Gala. Frank Lipo of the Historical Society also suggested that OPALGA and the Historical Society cosponsor a public event at the Oak Park library.

“Thanks to Debby Preiser at the library, we have scheduled that event for Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1:30 p.m. We felt it was important to have

photo: Dustin Halleck

First OPALGA planning retreat, 1990

BY LACEY SIKORA

All are welcome . . . Celebrating our bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, gender expansive, and queer siblings both within and beyond our Unity Temple community.

Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation Sunday Services and Religious Education 9 am and 10:45 am | Summer Service at 10 am only 875 Lake Street | Oak Park IL | www.unitytemple.org

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Michael Smith on the left and his husband, Thomas Sanders

June 26, 2019

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Doing business in our community a celebration program that is open to the public.”

While the museum exhibit is in the planning stages, Trezevant says, “It will include the updated thirty-year timeline and this year’s presentation from the gala. It will also include related materials loaned to the museum and items from the museum’s collection. Fortunately, it will also include video presentations from significant public hearings that took place in the early days, as well as other video interviews of founding members. We also want to publicly acknowledge the number of people who have worked within OPALGA to make it a success and to recognize the many allies who have helped make our success possible.”

Lueck notes that the milestone anniversary for OPALGA and the fiftieth anniversary of Stonewall are making people reflective, which makes this a good time to capture some reflections for future generations. “It is a markedly different environment today than it was thirty years ago. New people have heard about the struggles but haven’t lived it.”

Trezevant agrees and says that it is important to share these reflections with the rest of the community. “The point is that we want to go beyond sharing the OPALGA story just among ourselves. We

feel that the public deserves to know all that the organization has done over the years.

OPALGA continues to be one of the most significant volunteer activist groups in the Oak Park area. Beyond providing social activities for our members, we also have helped direct public policy and provide various services to the community at large.”

O

By LACEY SIKORA

PALGA members are an integral part of the community in many ways. While you might see them running the donut booth at the Oak Park farmers market or volunteering at the local food bank, they are also running the businesses that serve the people who live in the Oak Park and the surrounding areas.

Liz Stallone and Nancy Sexton are long-time OPALGA members and owners of PeoplesPrinting based in Forest Park. Stallone has worn many hats at OPALGA, from serving as a board member to co-chairing the annual fundraising gala, and belonged to the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Chicago prior to moving to Oak Park. She and Sexton both lived in Oak Park for years, briefly moved to Westchester and now live and work in Forest Park, which they say is a great home for a business.

Sexton says she had worked for the previous owners of the printing company for years and decided to buy it when they retired in 1996. Stallone joined her at the business in 1998. Today, they work from their Forest Park home. Sexton notes that at a time when a lot of small businesses are struggling, they have survived. “We strive to offer great service, and that really helps.” Stallone chimes in, “some of our customers have been with us for thirty years.”

Peoples-Printing is a printing broker with a designer on staff and Stallone jokes that they “print anything on paper – except money.”

Though they work from home, they do their own deliveries and love to meet face-to-face with their customers.

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OPALGA co-president Roger Wilson accepts a proclamation awarded by the Village.

Stallone emphasizes another salient point, “We are a 100% women-owned business and have been since Nancy bought the business.

We love what we do, and we’ve been doing this for years.”

OPALGA member and former Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce Board President Bob Stelletello is an ally member of OPALGA who owns and operates Right At Home, a non-medical in-home care services agency providing care to seniors and disabled adults in Oak Park, neighboring suburbs and on the northwest side of Chicago.

He notes that helping people age in place is a needed service. “The reality is that 70% of people will need some kind of care at some point in life. Put yourself in that space, wouldn’t you rather stay in your home?”

His Galewood-based business is active in Oak Park and the surrounding communities and serves all customers, but he notes that it can be particularly helpful for LGBTQ clients. “It can be an under-served community.

A number of them haven’t had children and the lack of support as they age is a concern.

I have a number of LGBTQ family members and I believe in equality and that everyone deserves to have their safe space.”

Stelletello says his time with OPALGA, the Chamber and the Rotary Club come out of a desire to give back to the community.

“If you’re a member of the community, it’s important to actually take part in the community.”

He adds that OPALGA’s purpose of activism and advocacy are still needed. “There’s a sense that the major battles have been fought and won, but in light of our current political situation, there are still concerns.”

Nancy Sexton and Liz Stallone

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Passing the Torch: OPALGA Outreach to Youth

By LACEY SIKORA

W

Contributing Reporter

hen OPALGA was formed in 1989, one of the early initiatives of the organization was a youth center in Oak Park. Mike Rosanova, OPALGA scholarship committee co-chair, notes that in the late 1980’s teenagers often struggled with coming out or sharing their identities with family, religious organizations and peers. The youth center was meant to be

suburbs- about a ten-mile radius around Oak Park. We offer scholarships of $3,000 to four or five students for the college or trade school they are going to attend in the fall.”

Ginger Colamussi and Rachel Megibow, co-heads of OPRF’s A Place For All, say that OPALGA’s support of the club is vital.

Colamussi, notes “We have an incredibly strong partnership with OPALGA. Their members regularly speak with our club throughout the year. In the fall, we have one meeting about the scholarships. OPALGA

Chicago 50th Annual Pride Events and attractions

Pride Calendar of events Chicago Is A Drag Festival (June 28) Cheetah Gym Parking Lot 5238 N Clark

Chicago’s first ever drag festival features a 50+ artist lineup including internationally touring headliners, reality TV superstars and homegrown Chicago talent!

Prince Poppycock Pride Kickoff Celebration (June 28) Center on Halsted is kicking off Pride Parade Weekend and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising with their annual Pride bash overlooking Halsted Street on the COH roof terrace. This year’s live entertainment is Prince Poppycock. Price: $25 includes 2 drinks (beer, wine or soda), bites and performance.

Pride Parade Friday with DJ Marco Da Silva (June 28) Pride Parade Friday DJ Marco Da Silva takes over the dance floor to kick off the weekend with his dark sexy tribal house and signature vocals! Set starts at 11pm until 4am!

Proud To Run 2019 (June 29) Montrose Harbor

Student volunteers from A Place For All pose for a photo at the 2018 Gala a safe and supportive place in a world that might not have been safe.

Fast forward thirty years, and OPRF High School offers A Place For All, formerly the Gay-Straight Alliance, and junior high schools Brooks and Julian also host clubs for students that are safe and supportive spaces to students of all gender identities.

Rosanova observes, “One of the big differences in our world is that there’s more and more information available to people at an earlier age. The kind of support necessary in terms of social activism is different than when people didn’t come out until they were in their twenties. The nature of social activism is different than when OPALGA was founded.

Due to the school communities’ embrace of issues surrounding sexual identity and gender, OPALGA no longer operates a youth center, but OPALGA members still wanted to support youth in the community. For many years, the organization’s fall gala has supported scholarships for local students who are LGBTQ or straight allies who are advocates for LGBTQ issues in the community.

Scholarship committee co-chair Jan Grillos notes that the scholarships applications are typically available in late January, with decisions made in early summer. “It’s exciting.

We do outreach to the schools in the western

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also invites our students to run the coat check at their fall gala. The tip jar that night is a fundraiser for A Place for All. We help them, and they help us.

Megibow notes that the example OPALGA provides is valuable. “The support is such a big piece. For me, I didn’t see a lot of LGBTQ adults when I was growing up. For these students to see the whole spectrum of ages. It is both a way to learn about history and learn from a living presence.”

Along with the club’s annual Loud & Proud fundraiser and working with teachers and staff at the school on how to be inclusive, A Place For All also is committed to letting students develop the club’s agenda. In the fall of 2019, students are spear-heading the first welcome dinner for LGBTQ students and families at OPRF. Called the Rainbow Dinner, the event will offer social connections as well as information on resources and support that are available at OPRF for LGBTQ students and their families.

Rosanova applauds these initiatives. “The dinner is a big change because it assumes that families are already committing to support their kids at these early ages. Why? Maybe because of changes in our junior high schools. Also, as a culture, we are lowering the age of gender identity. There’s better continued on B7

The 38th Annual Proud To Run Half Marathon, 10K run, and 5K run/walk, Chicago’s Original Pride Week Running Event.

Starting Times: Half Marathon: 7:00 a.m.

5k Run/Walk and 10k Run: 8:00 a.m.

Come early for opening remarks and warm-up activities, then stick around after for the awards ceremony and post-race entertainment!

Visit proudtorun.org to register and for information on how to donate and volunteer.

Navy Pier Pride (June 29) Navy Pier Pride, presented by American Airlines, is coming through with flying colors this year! The fourth annual free Pride event at Navy Pier will consist of a full day of family-friendly festivities in honor of the LGBTQ+ community.

Performances by the Lakeside Pride Marching Band and Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus. Fireworks at 10:15 p.m.

Pride North Chicago (June 29) Rogers Park

Pride North in Rogers Park featuring live entertainment, dance floors, d.j.s, food and drinks for purchase. Glenwood Ave. between Morse and Lunt in Chicago. Right off the Morse stop on the CTA Red Line

Pride in the Park Chicago 2019 (June 29) Grant Park-Butler Field

Held the day before Chicago’s annual LGBTQ Pride Parade, this ALL-NEW FEST at the Petrillo Bandshell in historic Grant Park will celebrate June’s Pride Month with top national and local performers, including headliners Iggy Azalea and Steve Aoki.

Music will run the gamut from EDM, to hip hop/rap, to 80s hits, to pop. Also, great food from DineAmic Group’s Bar Siena, Public House, and Bombo Bar – some of Chicago’s trendiest restaurants.

Back Lot Bash 2019 (June 29 & 30) Cheetah Gym Parking Lot 5238 N Clark

Now in its 16th year, the Back Lot Bash is an annual Pride party for the girls taking place over 2 days during Chicago’s Pride Parade weekend in the Andersonville neighborhood.

This year featuring The Veronicas, Jackie Cruz, DEVMO, Dorian Electra, Mel Senese, Catfight, UltraBeat, Psalm One, Rose Garica, Kat Florek, Fiat Lux, DJ Zel, Gemini Jones & DJ All the Way Kay. General admission $35.

Pride Parade Saturday with Ralphi Rosario (June 29) Pride Parade Saturday DJ Remixer and Producer Ralphi Rosario takes over Hydrate and takes you on a wild musical journey.

There is not better way to celebrate Pride in Chicago than with this House Music Legend!

Set begins at 11pm until 5am!

Chicago Pride Parade 2019 (June 30) Boystown, Chicago

The 50th annual Chicago Pride Parade, coordinated by PRIDEChicago, is the culmination of a full month of activities known as June Pride Month in Chicago.

The parade starts at 12 Noon - rain or shine - at the corner of Broadway and Montrose.

The parade will then travel the 21-block parade route south on Broadway; then south on Halsted; then east on Belmont; then south on Broadway; then east on Diversey to Cannon Drive.

Chicago Urban Pride Picnic (June 30) Jackson Park Groves 19a & 19b All LGBTQ families, friends and allies are welcome to come and celebrate a day filled with Entertainment, Music, Give A-ways, Food, Fun while also enjoying activities for children and empowering /educating the young minds of the LGBTQ community. So grab your rainbow flags,grills & tents

Pride North Chicago (June 30) Rogers Park

Pride North in Rogers Park featuring live entertainment, dance floors, d.j.s, food and drinks for purchase. Glenwood Ave. between Morse and Lunt in Chicago. Right off the Morse stop on the CTA Red Line

More events & details at: chicagopride.gopride.com

June 26, 2019

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continued from B6 •

Passing the torch: OPALGA outreach to youth works with the Trevor Project, a suicide preacceptance than there used to be.”

While acceptance in Oak Park is broad, vention group, and successfully petitioned Rosanova says there are still kids who need Christian Youth Theater (CYT) to adopt a polmore support. “Here in the western suburbs, icy prohibiting the firing of employees on the we’ve seen an explosion in the Latinx popula- basis of sexual orientation. Another, who is a tion. That culture has not had as much time National Honor Society member at her high school advocated for junior to adapt. Latinx kids can be high LGBTQ programs in struggling more.” local schools, and a stuGrillos points out that the dent in an International scholarship applications often The kind of Baccalaureate trade reveal struggles. “The stusupport necessary school program is using dents write an essay and have in terms of social her art and work in digitwo letters of recommendaactivism is different tal media to portray peotion. It gives us a lot of backthan when people ple who are unapologetiground information. A lot of cally queer and happy. the time, the kids come from didn’t come out Rosanova says that tough situations. These are until they were in as OPALGA evolves, the kinds of kids we want to their twenties. The members have begun to support.” nature of social emphasize the social jusThe six winners of this activism is different tice mission of the orgayear’s scholarships represent a future that Rosanova says than when OPALGA nization. “One of the significant things about the is quite bright. They include was founded. scholarships and worka student who was bullied for ing with the school combeing gay in junior high school but went on to become the student president munities, is that as time goes on, it’s become of his high school all while interning for his more of the core issue with OPALGA. From congressman and working part time; a gradu- the beginning, there was a strong social jusate of a catholic high school who organized a tice component to OPALGA.” This year’s Gala will take place on October Prom Again event at her catholic university for LGBTQ students who couldn’t go to their 26th. For more details, visit www.opalga.org. high school proms due to fear. The recipients All are welcome to attend the gala and supare also activists. One home-schooled student port scholarships for students.

Don’t miss our Annual Bake Sale at the Oak Park Farmers Market • Sat., Aug 31st

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender We meet on the 4th Sunday First United Church of Oak Park: 848 Lake Street, Oak Park (at Kenilworth) 3 pm - 5 pm

708.386.1738 www.pflag.org www.oakpark-pflag.blogspot.com

This is a place of confidentiality.

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June 26, 2019

A presence in the Oak Park area community for 30 years!

For 30 years, OPALGA has provided a welcoming home for the Oak Park area LGBTQ+ community, family and friends. We fought for and secured equality in housing and employment, hosted social events and gatherings, provided a welcoming place to forge friendships, gave back through community volunteer work, and raised funds to provide educational scholarships to a new generation.

We are proud of our history and accomplishments, thrilled to welcome many new members in 2019, and excited about the years ahead.

We hope you will join and support us

oak park area lesbian & gay association