Village, OPRF High School, and Park District Receive Medals for Gay Games Participation
Over the last two weeks in September, OPALGA Co-Chair Brad Bartels and CEO of the Oak Park Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Rich Carollo have attended board meetings of the Village of Oak Park, Oak Park and River Forest High School, and the Park District of Oak Park to make special presentations on behalf of the Oak Park Host Committee for the Gay Games VII. Bartels and Carollo presented each governing body with a framed participant’s medal for their contributions to the success of the Gay Games in Oak Park. Bartels said of the presentations, “It is important to recognize the contributions made this summer by all three governing bodies. Without their support and willingness to be a part of the Gay Games, we couldn’t have held them here. They did an outstanding job, and we all should all be proud of their contribution.”
At each of the presentations, Bartels remarked, “It has been only 17 short years since protections for gays and lesbians were included in the Human Rights ordinance of the Village of Oak Park, and the Gay Games were a symbolic reminder that our Village does embraces us (the LGBT community) as full residents with all of the rights and responsibilities that go along with living in this community.”
Pictured are Rich Carollo (left) and Brad Bartels (center) as they present David Pope (right), President of the Board of Trustees for the Village of Oak Park, with a framed participant’s medal for the village’s contribution to the Gay Games Vll in Oak Park.
