Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association
Since its inception in 1989, OPALGA has become one of the largest community based, multipurpose lesbian and gay membership organizations in Illinois.
November Presidential Election
This November will present us with one of the most important presidential elections in our history.
The next president will be presented with a host of issues: two wars, economic turmoil, global warming, and international relations. Add to this three very important words: THE SUPREME COURT. The next president will probably have the opportunity to nominate at least two Supreme Court justices. These justices will eventually decide very important matters, two of which will likely be same-sex-marriage rights and women’s right to choose.
In an effort to inform the LGBT community, with the assistance of the Human Rights Campaign, we have compiled issues that we believe are important and that stand out for the two candidates for President of the United States: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
Transgender-Inclusive ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act)• Obama: Supports ending employment discrimination against the entire LGBT community.
• McCain: Cast a deciding vote against ENDA.
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment• Obama: Supports Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act and cosponsored the Medicaid Early Treatment for HIV Act.
Supports comprehensive sex education aimed at preventing disease.
• McCain: Voted for a Jesse Helms strategy to remove the LGBT community from HIV/AIDS programs.
Supports abstinence-only education.
Lifting the Military Ban
• Obama: Opposes the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
• McCain: Believes that LGBT people should not be allowed to serve openly and supports “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Relationship Recognition• Obama: Supports repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Supports civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Opposes civil marriage for same-sex couples.
• McCain: Voted for and supports the Defense of Marriage Act.
Voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment but campaigned for a state amendment that would have banned civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Does not support family benefits for partners of federal employees.
Opposes civil marriage for same-sex couples.
Same-Sex Adoption
• Obama: Supports adoption by LGBT people.
• McCain: Opposes adoption by same-sex couples.
Hate Crimes
• Obama: Supports inclusive legislation to protect entire LGBT community against bias-motivated crimes.
• McCain: Voted against hate crimes legislation three times.
Public Policy Update
Remember to Vote!
On Tuesday, February 5, 2008, Illinois will hold its Presidential Primary. See your January, 2008, issue of Empower for a table that shows the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates’ positions on key GLBT national issues. If you would like to know the responses of all candidates to these issues, contact Alan Amato at .
Illinois HB 1826 “Religious Freedom & Civil Unions Act”
The Bill has passed from the Illinois House Human Services Committee and is currently awaiting action by the full House. Please contact your State Representative and ask him or her to support HB 1826:
Rep. Karen Yarbrough (7)
708-615-1747
Rep. LaShawn Ford (8)
773-378-5902
Rep. Deborah Graham (78)
708-445-9520
Oak Park Village Board Supports HB 1826
At the July 6, 2007, meeting of the Oak Park Village Board, the Trustees voted unanimously to support HB 1826. The Resolution urged our State Legislators to support the measure.
Oak Park Supports Civil Unions
On July 6, 2007, the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved a Resolution in support of Illinois HB 1826: “Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act.” This Bill, if approved by the State Legislature, would establish a civil union law in Illinois. This law would grant same-sex partners the State benefits now awarded to those who are civilly married in the State.
If the State Legislature approves the measure, Illinois will become the sixth state in the country to establish a civil union law.
Spearheaded by Village Trustee and former OPALGA Co-Chair Ray Johnson, the Resolution was read by Village President David Pope and passed unanimously by voice vote.
In a press release issued by OPALGA before the vote by the Village Board, OPALGA Public Policy Chair Alan Amato said, “I am confident this Resolution will garner unanimous approval from the Oak Park Village Board. Oak Park has lead the way in fostering community diversity. This is a logical next step.”
Oak Park Again in the Forefront
With this action, the Village of Oak Park became the first municipality in the entire State to support HB 1826.
Soon after passage of the Resolution, The OPALGA Center was contacted by residents of DuPage County, asking for a copy of the Resolution so they can present a similar Resolution to village boards in that county. According to Rick Garcia, Political Director of Equality Illinois, interest in the Oak Park Resolution has come from around the State.
Resolution Gains Press Interest
The Resolution has garnered press attention throughout metropolitan Chicago. In addition to interviews with the local press (Wednesday Journal and Oak Leaves), OPALGA representatives were interviewed by the Chicago gay press as well as the Chicago Tribune. Reports of the passage of the Resolution were also aired on WGN-TV and several radio stations.
We Need YOU to Take Action!
It is extremely important that we contact our State Representatives to request the support of HB 1826. PLEASE take a few minutes to contact your State Rep!
Representative LaShawn K. Ford (8th District)
5104 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60651
(773) 378-5902
(8th District: Adams to Roosevelt, Austin to Harlem)
Representative Deborah Graham (78th District)
6101 W. North Ave.
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 445-9520
(78th District: North to Madison, Austin to Harlem)
Meetings to Be Organized
OPALGA will also be organizing meetings with our State Representatives to gain their support of HB 1826. If you are interested in helping to organize these meetings and attending, please contact Alan Amato at .
Pride Proclamation and Human Rights Award
On June 4, 2007, the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees declared June, 2007, to be LGBT Pride Month in the Village of Oak Park. This is an annual tradition and one worth repeating.
In addition, at the same night’s Village Board meeting, OPALGA Public Policy Chair Alan Amato was awarded the Human Rights Award by the Community Relations Commission. This award recognizes individuals, local businesses, and organizations who have worked to foster and promote human rights, diversity, and equality in the Oak Park community. OPALGA received this award in 2006.
Alan was recognized with this award because of his energy, dedication, and the variety of service that he has provided to Oak Park, the surrounding area, and the state of Illinois.
Alan has a background as a legislative aide to an Illinois House member. When he moved to Oak Park in 1985, he became aware of the growing problem in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, and he left his work at the Illinois House to become a community organizer and to focus on social work.
Devastated by the growing AIDS plague, Alan worked with a fledgling AIDS organization, now called Vital Bridges. Through this connection, Alan joined in convincing the Board of Trustees to add the term “sexual orientation” to the village’s Human Rights Ordinance.
Given this victory, Alan and others established OPALGA. In addition to developing public policy stances, Alan has been a member of the OPALGA board of directors, and he helped to spearhead the efforts to add domestic partnership benefits for employees of Oak Park and River Forest High School and the Village of Oak Park.
Alan then started the Pride Agenda Book Store on the Marion Street Mall. Pride Agenda quickly became a LGBT center, and Alan quickly recognized that he should join in the effort to establish a Domestic Partnership Registry in the Village. The Village of Oak Park was the first city in the nation to affirm a Domestic Partnership Registry by popular vote.
Alan has also continued his ties to the Illinois House, working with both Judy Barr Topinka and Barak Obama to draft statements on gay and lesbian issues.
Currently employed at Tan Travel, Alan has organized trips to Europe and South America for gay, lesbian, and straight travelers.
In 2002, Alan was named to the Wednesday Journal’s list of Top 100 Oak Parkers for his work on behalf of diversity and human rights. Alan is now also a board member of the Animal Care League and the Oak Park Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Alan is a true community-builder who understands the value and importance of civil discourse and of building diversity, and we enthusiastically congratulate him on receiving the 2007 Human Rights Award. Congratulations, Alan!
OPALGA Member Screens Movie
OPALGA member Jeffrey Smith will screen his movie The Miracle on Thursday, June 21. Dominican University (7200 W. Division, River Forest) is holding a special-event screening with its Alumni Association at 7:00 p.m. in Martin Hall. A reception will follow the screening.
This is a chance to say thank you to the Oak Park-River Forest community as a whole and to Dominican University in particular, since many scenes for the film were shot in the area. Seating will be first come, first served and is limited.
Center on Halsted Celebrates Grand Opening
This spring, Chicago celebrates the grand opening of the new LGBT community center, the Center on Halsted.
The Center is in the early stages of planning a series of several community interfaith services to commemorate the opening of the new Center and to celebrate the many dimensions of the LGBT community— lives and loves, hopes and dreams, and passions and promises.
The services will take place at the Center on Halsted beginning at 9:00 a. m. on each of several Sundays in June. The theme is “Celebrate @ the Center!” and several topics have been identified for each Sunday, based on other activities happening in the community and at the Center, which include:
- June 3—Family: Celebrating Love and Relationships in Their Splendid Diversity
- June 10—Community and Diversity: Claiming the Rainbow Promise and Possibility
- June 17—Health: Renewing Body, Mind, and Spirit Generation to Generation
- June 24—Spirit: Uniting for Equality and Elevating Pride
The Center is seeking individuals, LGBT organizations, and allies who will join together to develop, celebrate, and promote these meaningful experiences through music, arts, readings, and rituals from our community’s diverse traditions and experiences. The Center is located at 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago. For more information, visit www.centeronhalsted.org.
Windy City Times 30 Under 30
Each year, 30 young LGBT activists, journalists, students, HIV/AIDS volunteers, and performers under the age of 30 are honored by the Windy City Times for their achievements. Phillip “Andy” Walensa, one of our own, has been chosen as one of 30 Under 30 for 2007. His work with OPALGA, beginning as a youth in our drop-in center eight years ago and culminating as a peer advisor, community educator, artist, creative force in our office, and group facilitator, will be honored. The 30 young movers and shakers in the Chicagoland LGBT community will be honored at a ceremony on June 20 at the Center on Halsted. We are so proud of Andy’s journey from a timid 15-year-old boy in our drop-in groups to becoming a leader in our community. Congratulations, Andy!
Local Election Results
April 17 was election day in the Chicagoland area. In Oak Park, past OPALGA Co-Chair Ray Johnson ran for reelection to a four-year term on the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees. Johnson was first elected to the Village Board in 2003. In that election, he was the highest vote-getter, and this year he repeated his 2003 performance, receiving 4,815 votes, or 20.3%. Johnson will be joined on the board by his running mates Jan Pate and John Hale—both for four-year terms—and John Hedges—for a two-year term. Both Pate and Hale are also members of OPALGA.
To the south of Oak Park, longtime OPALGA member and past BUNGALO (Berwyn United Neighborhood Gay and Lesbian Organization) Board of Directors Chair Ted Korbos ran for a seat on the J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 High School Board. Korbos was defeated for a seat on the board by 244 votes. He received 3,463 votes, or 38.8%.
OPALGA continues to encourage its members to take part in the election process. Whether on a local, state, or national level, it is important that our members learn about and understand the issues that affect not only the LGBT community but also the broader issues that affect all citizens. As Trustee Reelect Johnson said during the campaign, “There isn’t a ‘gay way’ to fill a pothole.” While this may be true, participation in the electoral process by all is a right that should not be taken for granted.
Past OPALGA Co-Chair, Ray Johnson Receives Endorsement From The Victory Fund
You may not know about the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, but since 1991 it has helped hundreds of openly LGBT candidates win election to local, state and federal offices. The Victory Fund provides strategic, technical and financial support to those that it endorses and has been acknowledged as a determinative factor in the successful election or appointment of its endorsed candidates. The Victory Fund is also the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee and one the nation’s largest nonpartisan PACs.
Recently, the Victory Fund announced its endorsement of local Oak Park Board of Trustee candidate and past OPALGA co-chair, Ray Johnson in his re-election campaign. Johnson said, “I am very honored and proud to have been recognized by the Victory Fund. I truly appreciate their confidence in me and the work that I have done for the Village of Oak Park.”
You can visit the Victory Fund website at www.victoryfund.org and learn more about it and their work. The Victory Fund endorsed OPALGA member, Mary Colleen Roberts last fall during her successful Cook County Judgeship race. In the Chicagoland area, the Victory Fund also endorsed Debra Shore in her successful commissioner race for the Cook County Metropolitan Water Reclamation Authority. Debra holds the record for receiving the highest actual votes of any lesbian candidate for any office in the United States.
Oak Park’s Upcoming Village Election
Spring is election season in the Village of Oak Park, and the next village-wide election is on April 17. OPALGA has a tradition of participating in Oak Park village elections through educating our members on the stances that candidates take on a variety of local issues. In the past, we have sponsored candidate forums and sent out candidate questionnaires. This year, we are asking candidates for Village Trustee positions, through a seven-point survey, to voice their positions on topics including:
• Adding a nondiscriminatory requirement and providing domestic partnership benefits for businesses that contract for work within the village
• Adding protection in the village’s Human Rights Ordinance for transgender residents
• Considering hypothetically how they, as trustees, would juggle the needs of neighbors and the needs of the community as a whole
The survey is being sent to the candidates in early March. Once we have received responses from the candidates, we will compile a report that details their responses, and we will send it to our Oak Park members.
Three slates of four candidates each and one independent candidate have stepped forward for consideration. Voters will elect three four-year trustee terms and one two-year term. Announced candidates are:
Citizens for Progressive Action (Slated by the Village Manager Association)
Ray Johnson—Incumbent
Jan Pate
Jon Hale
John Hedges—Two-year term
Vision Community Action (Slated by the Village Citizens’ Alliance)
Jim Balanoff
Robert Milstein—Incumbent
Gary Schwab
Anabel Abraham—Two-year term
New Leadership ‘07 (Slated by the New Leadership Coalition)
Barbara Dolan
Harvey Lyon
Mary Shiffer
Rose Meyer—Two-year term
Independent
Dan Fore—Two-year term
