Every spring the Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association (OPALGA+) grants scholarships to local student leaders. In the program’s 10-year history, its board has allocated more than $170,000 to student scholarships.
This year, the board awarded the largest cumulative amount of money yet in one year: $40,000 in scholarships in all, or $5,000 to 8 different students. Seven of the recipi-
throughout the year, with its Annual Scholarship Gala held in October. As in this year’s program book, scholarship “amazing student leaders (who) ha commitment to service and a BTQ+ community through the lens of equal opportunity for all.”
One of this year’s scholarship Montes-Williams, a prominent local acti and River Forest High School tivist was more of a necessity than a choice
Student Taylor Montes-Williams led a student walk out at OPRF last year follow ing inappropriate social media post, which students say showcased a toxic culture at the high school that permits sexual harassment.
Taylor MontesDuring her time at OPRF, Montes-Williams led and organized protests in response to police violence and racism, gun violence, and sexual harassment and assault. She was a prominent member of the Revolutionary Youth Action League (ROYAL) and Students Advocating for Equity (S.A.F.E.). In the fall, Montes-Williams will be studying Political Science at the University of New Mexico.
In a video released by OPALGA+, Montes-Williams said she chose New Mexico “to further my education and my experience and be able to advocate for people of color, queer people, other people with marginalized identities across the country. … The scholarship means a lot to me because it can help further my education so I can help protect queer people, not just in my community, but those nationwide and those globally.”
Annie Larson, a 2023 Fenwick graduate and scholarship recipient, said she approached her activism in a different y. As a student at the Oak Park-based Catholic school, Larson said she has tried to be a role model for fellow students in the community.
“
Growing up, it was impossible to see the injustice in the world and towards my communities without wanting to change it.”
TAYLO R MONTES-WILLIAMS
Ac tivist and OPRF graduate
“I didn’t experience a lot of outward homophobia, but there’s plenty of little comments,” said Larson. In her activism, she said she focuses on creating a “safe space for others.”
Larson said she makes sure that “if I hear something problematic, I don’t just ignore it and I make sure I say something. Not just because it’s making me uncomfortable, but so that if there’s other people, especially people in the closet, that they know that not everyone is ag reeing with the problematic statement and that there are people on their side defending them.”
Larson came out as bisexual in eighth grade, she said. “I was definitely the only one of my close friends to come out at that time. I think a big role that I’ve played in supporting my community is being that person that it’s easier to come out to.”
As an active member of the Fenwick Pride Alliance, Larson helped to push
the school to relax its dress code with regard to gender lines. She independently organized an annual Easter egg hunt that raised over $20,000 for Hepzibah Children’s Association. In the fall, she will be attending Georgetown University. After receiving the scholarship, Larson said she was able to learn about and talk to the other recipients. Larson said she was impressed with her peers’ activism and mentioned Montes-Williams. “She is leading protests and giving speeches and she is amazing,” said Larson. Larson said she was grateful the OPALGA board reco gnized the importance of “day-to-day” activism as well. To the students, receiving the scholarship was more than a reco gnition of their achievements. It made way for new possibilities and opportunities. “The scholarship opened doors for me,” said Montes-Williams.
“Queer futures matter.”
“If I hear something problematic, I don’t just ignore it and I make sure I say something.”
ANNIE LARSON Fenwick graduate
At Forest Park Bank, we believe that serving the community means giving the best customer service, providing the latest in banking products, and most of all, helping our customers reach their full potential. Whether opening a small business, buying a home, or planning for the future, we’ve been making the journey with customers since 1943.
By ELIZABETH SHORT ontributing Reporter
n the late 1970s, gay pride marching bands emerged across the United States ands that for med during this Chicago Gay Pride Band, ich performed in the 1979 Chicago anizer Jon Dallas officialnsembles riginally under the name esbian and Gay Band and later La ide Pride Freedom Band past decade, the Lakeside
marching band has been a memorable feature of Oak Park’s annual 4th of July parade. Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles, now in its 26th year, boasts over 400 members including members of nity as well as allies
C ally to the occasional Timejardine-Zomeño said that when he firs he was struck vironment.
fort to show that they’re welcome,” he said. “We’re happy to have you.”
The ensembles have no audition process, which means members range in ability from upcoming professionals to “people who haven’t touched their instruments since high school,” said Timejardine-Zomeño.
At the time of its founding in 1997, the organization included only 25 members. In its short history, the organization has grown dramatically. Timejardine-Zomeño said he has seen further growth during his time with the organization. “I think a lot of it had to do with the passing of marriage equality in 2015,” he said. “People are seeing that LGBT people exist and keep our society moving.”
The four most prominent ensembles are the Marching Band, Jazz Orchestra, Symphonic Band, and Pops Ensemble (conducted by drag queen Manic Maxxie). The organization also lists 10 smaller ensembles on its website, ranging from a Latin band to the “Tiny Bubbles ‘Ukulele’ Ensemble.”
Timejardine-Zomeño said the organization offers a sense of belonging to people who might not otherwise find a supportive community. “People, like me, who don’t belong and people who are in the (LGBTQ+) community have found a place where they can be themselves and play music.”
“I hear from a lot of people that (Lakeside Pride) is their safe space,” said Jordan Francisco, Lakeside Pride’s marketing officer.
book out of fear of retaliation from their employers. It’s nice to know that we’re able to provide the space for them and be their friends.”
As states pass legislation attacking LGBTQ+ rights, Lakeside Pride continues to flourish as a safe space for creative expression and marginalized communities. In March, the group’s board released a letter about these laws and included local resources for community members. Lakeside Pride is a member of the Pride Bands Alliance, a network connecting pride bands across the nation and the world. Through this network, musicians in the LGBTQ+ community are able to connect and play with bands and finda supportive community, wherever they may be.
“Especially for those who live in Texas and Florida and places like that, that’s a way for us to say, ‘You can march with us. You have a place,’” said Timejardine-Zomeño Lakeside Pride “is my chosen family,” said Francisco. The organization does more than play music. The musicians “come together to … cause a positive impact to our community,” said Francisco. “It brings me great joy.”
The ensembles’ performances slow after the busy month of June but interested readers should be sure to check out the marching band’s performance in the Village of Oak Park’s annual Fourth of July parade.
“I hear from a lot of people that (Lakeside Pride) is their safe space. It’s nice to know that we’re able to provide the space for them and be their friends.”
JORDAN FRANCISCO
Lakeside Pride’s marketing o cer
By STACEY SHERIDAN Senior Reporter
Urban Village Church West had a special guest at its family Pride celebration this past Saturday. Chicago drag performer Coco Sho-nell, in full glam, read stories to the children at the event. Her choice in storybooks share central themes: embrace individuality and diversity.
“Love the skin that you’re in and find the beauty within yourself,” Sho-nell explained.
The church invited Sho-nell to read at the Pride celebration through the Drag Story Hour, a movement begun in 2015 with drag queens reading to children in San Francisco It is now a re gistered 501c3 non-profit. Sho-nell performed at the church once before in 2021 and Rev. Christian Coons was happy to welcome her back again.
“She’s a great performer and she loves children,” said Coons.
Drag Story Hour provides kids an introduction to the LGBTQ+ community to build understanding and acceptance of diversity. Sho-nell’s choice in reading materials reflects that. One of her favorite books is “There’s Only
One You” by Kathryn Helling and Deborah Hembrook, which teaches children that no one person is exactly the same as another
“You may have straight hair. You may need glasses to see or you need to maybe use a wheelchair,” she explained. “It’s OK. That’s just who you are.”
Her other favorite book is Academy Award-winning actor Lupita N’yongo’s “Sulwe,” which tells the story about a little girl whose skin is darker than anyone else’s she knows, including that of her mother. The book explores colorism and self-worth, ultimately leading its young protagonist to embrace and be proud of what makes her unique.
“It’s OK if you don’t look like everybody else. That’s what makes you, you,” she said. No protestors showed up to the River Forest event, except some uninvited deer that brazenly grazed near the bounce castle Saturday afternoon, but that has not been the case at similar events outside the Chicago area. NBC News reported that a group of masked neo-Nazis disrupted a drag storybook reading two eekends in New Hampshire by chanting homophobic slurs.
Those who purport drag to be an act of the nefarious and im moral lack an understanding of the world and an openness to learn, according to Sho-nell.
“Humans fear what they don’t understand,” she said. “We’re trying to break that stigma.”
Coons echoed her sentiment, adding that he believes many people who oppose drag have never had meaningful re-
lationships or even a conversation with someone who does not fit the mold of being cisgender and heterosexual.
“Once you do, you begin to see the fruit of their lives,” he said. “I just can’t see how you can, in good conscience say, that this is not a child of God.”
Legislation to criminalize drag and reduce the rights of the wider LGBTQ+ community is being pushed – and hallenged – across the country as well, with the most notable ef for ts coming from presidential hopeful and govF lorida, Ron DeSantis. assed in April, the sweeping “Let Kids be Kids” bill prohibits the discussion of gender identity in schools and bars transgender minors from receiving gender affirming medical care. The legislation also makes it ille gal for minors to attend drag performances. F lorida State Rep. Randy Fine, who sponsored the bill, said the law will “protect
our children by ending the gateway propaganda to this evil – ‘Drag Queen Story Time.’”
A Central F lorida federal judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the age restriction at drag performances, ruling June 23 that a drag performer reading to children does not constitute an obscene performance. Within the conservative Christian community, drag performers and their storybook reading have come under fire. Evangelical leader Franklin Graham was quoted in a September issue of “Christianity Today” encouraging parents and grandparents to quit patronizing libraries in protest.
This stance is actively opposed by Coons and Urban Village, which Coons said has always been welcoming of LGBTQ+ worshippers and other groups “pushed to the margins.” Nor does he believe it should be scandalous to invite drag performers to read books with positive messaging to kids
“We are for them; we love them; we believe they are created in the image of God just as anyone else is,” Coons said.
TODD A. BANNOR
Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America table at the Urban Village Church West’s Family Pride Fest
“
We are for them; we love them; we believe they are created in the image of God just as anyone else is.”
RE V. CHRISTIAN COONS
The second annual Pride Walk kicked o the month’s celebrations
By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff ReporterAcceptance, love, and equality was the message shared by those attending River Forest District 90’s Pride Walk, which was held on Thursday, June 1 in partnership with the River Forest community.
Attendees gathered at Village Hall, 400 Park Ave., to enjoy the flag raising. In attendance was Ken Johnson, River Forest trustee and co-chair of the village’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory group, who expressed the importance of the day and the ef for ts to create an inclusive community for everyone to feel accepted and safe.
“Diversity and gay pride are important because they re present the progress we have made as a society of reco gnizing and celebrating the rights of all people re gardless of their sexual orientation,” said Johnson. “We have come a long way in reco gnizing the rights of LGBTQ+ communities.”
Me g an Keskitalo, PTO member who worked on developing the Pride Walk for Lincoln Elementary School, 511 Park Ave., led the cheering crowd in the flag raising, which was followed by the Pride Walk around the block, led by Principal Casey Godfrey
“I am so proud to work in a community, in a district that is so inclusive of everyone,” Godfrey said. “To carry the flag and to re present our district and all of our kids was a special moment.”
While the event was to celebrate Pride, with the message of equality and inclusion, the walk reached out to broader communities in River Forest.
For Britt Gentile, of River Forest, who is on Lincoln’s Belongingness and Inclusion Committee, the event was a way to support and foster inclusion and acceptance for everyone
“It was important for me to participate because I have sons who have disabilities and I just feel that there should be inclusion of all levels of all people,” Gentile said. “Whatever someone determines is their sexuality or their pronouns, they have every right in the world to do that and who are we to take that away.”
T he walk ended at the Franklin playground where the celebration continued with free Kona Shaved Ice and music as River Forest kicked of f Pride Month.
By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter
Residents of Forest Park who wanted an extra colorful way to celebrate Pride month attended the Rainbow Walk & Roll event on Sat., June 3 to get an early start on the month’s festivities.
The Walk & Roll event was a partnership between the Forest Park Public Library, 7555 Jackson Blvd., and Forest Park School District 91.
“The partnership was fairly simple,” said Nurys Uceta-Ramos, family and community engagement manager for District 91. “The library reached out to us with the idea, and we were excited to be a part of it.”
The event started at Garfield Elementary School, 543 Hannah Ave., at 8 a.m.
Shannon Wood, District 91 school board president, attended the event and said it was great to see so many supportive members of the Forest Park community come together to celebrate Pride month.
“There were so many smiles -- families and community members,” Wood said. “This was an event that reminds me how our community can and does come together for one another.”
Woods said the library provided flags and ribbons for participants to carry during the walk and at the end those who wanted to participate could throw colorful powder up in the air, which was a big hit with children.
“It was very exciting to see our community come and support the event in a safe and respectful manner,” UcetaRamos said.
Children celebrated the Walk & Roll and created fun memories throwing color ful powder into the air to celebrate the beginning of Pr ide month.
Fewer than six percent Girl Scouts successfully earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement a scout can complete.
The 80-hour service project high school scouts to complete a “longterm project with sustainable and ongoing impact that addresses a r sue.” One scout who is determined to be pa of this six percent is rising OPRF senior Emma Costello-Wollwage.
As part of her project, “Prioritizing In clusion,” Costello-Wollwage comprehensive guide to sex middle schoolers. Her we com/view/prioritizinginclusion) offers in formation on LGBTQ+ issues and histor as well as her “amended lesson ing LGBTQ+ inclusion for programs in middle schools.” Accompanying her website is an Insta prioritizinginclusion.
In creating the website and page, Costello-Wollwage school students and spent hours ing and writing for the we
“As a queer student, I was ne how to protect myself sexually sexual relationship with another non man, writes Costello-Wollwage
“Since I came out/disco identity in the sixth grade, I was only taught straight sex and viewed a single five-minute video regarding LGBTQ+ sex in my sex ed classroom. This was not enough.”
Lee Chaloemtiarana, Costello-Wollwage’s partner, witnessed similar problems in health class. “We didn’t know how to navigate a queer relationship,” said Chaloemtiarana. “It went by different rules than heterosexual relationships -- and that’s all we learned about in health class. We didn’t know how to be safe (or) how to maintain a healthy relationship.”
According to Chaloemtiarana, the sex education they received in middle school barely covered LGBTQ+ issues, “which is
really ironic considering middle school is a time where a lot of people find out about being gay (and begin that) self-exploration journey.”
Witnessing this imbalance in education, along with peers’ ignorance and hatred toward members of the LGBTQ+ community and in particular toward transgender people, Costello-Wollwage grew more aware of her privilege as well as her duty to fight for herself and others within the community
“We are the ones who have to make chang-
es,” she said.
TODD A. BANNORAfter coming out in sixth grade, CostelloWollwage said her sexuality became an important part of her identity. “I was really happy that I had taken the time and found something that special,” she said. Over the next few years, she participated in Percy Julian Middle School’s Rainbow Tribe and was “very, very out.”
While researching the project, CostelloWollwage went back to Rainbow Tribe to speak with current middle school students
Incoming OPRF freshman Shay Sokolowski, icipated in Rainbow Tribe, deostello-Wollwage as being “highly ” Similarly, Costello-Wollwage said ould see herself in the Rainbow Tribe
he students she spoke to in Rainbow “so, so out,” said Costello-Wolle under the impression that OPRF and Oak Park are going to be as accepting as their peers, their friends, and
But that’s just not true.”
(virtual) freshman year at ostello-Wollwage experienced cyberbullying directed at her sexuality. “We prejudice embedded in us,” said wage. “It’s our responsibility to reteach ourselves.”
wage successfully completed service. As she waits for the ouncil to approve her project, she said she hopes the website reaches a broader I’m hoping it can become a really ccessible education tool.” esearching and compiling the webostello-Wollwage said she was able to expand her knowledge on these issues “I learned a lot during that process,” she said. “It was really enjoyable for me because about stuff that I missed out on. Creating that website, everything’s gowith me. … I really liked learnommunity and helping other kids. It means a lot to me.”
OPRF“
W
e all have prejudice embedded in us. It’s our responsibility to reteach ourselves.”
EMMA COSTELLO-WOLLWAGE
senior
HAIR
Before and after 3 treatments
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INJECTABLES:
Before and after 3 treatments Courtesy of R. Saluja, MD
Courtesy of E. Lach, MD
owd, many clad in “Pride Forest Park” T-shirts, gathForest Park’s Constitution Court on Madison Street the eveune 23 to watch the centervillage’s second annual Pride
ent featured 8 drag performers, ineturning performers Angel LeBare, lor and Fox E. Kim. Keri Traid, Mariela Duarte, Moana Lotte and Dymond C. Calloway made their Forest Park Pride debut this year.
As happened last year, the drag queens walked to several Madison Street businesses
beforehand, chatting with customers and posing for pictures. This year’s participants included Brown Cow, Twisted Cookie, Fiore, Team Blonde, Play it Again Sports, MacDaddy Salon, Schauer’s Hardware, NOLA Louisiana Kitchen and Kribi Coffee Air Roastery.
PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), OPALGA+ (Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association), the Howard Brown Health Center and Ener gy Tees custom apparel company set up tables at Constitution Court.
“This is perfect for us [as a business],” said Energy Tees owner Eric Priceman. “Why wouldn’t we be here? We’re part of this village.”
Mayor Rory Hoskins, village commissioners Maria Maxham and Michelle MelinRogovin, Village Clerk Vanessa Moritz and
several members of the Forest Park School District 91 Board of Education attended the drag show.
“We’re a very progressive community, and we have a very equitable school board, and we value openness and inclusion,” Hoskins said.
Erich Krumrei, owner of Play it Again Sports, organized the Forest Park Pride Celebration. In his speech before the show, he touched on the challenges the LGBT community, especially the trans community, continues to face
Historic preservation in Oak Park lost one of its stalwart supporters in May when Donald Kalec died at the age of 87. One of the founding members of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio Foundation (now the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust), Kalec devoted his life to architecture and historic preservation.
Kalec received his B.A. from Auburn University and his B.Arch. from the University of F lorida. From 1965-69, he apprenticed with the Taliesin Fellowship at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Spring
Green, Wisconsin.
He began teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1969 and in the early 1970s was one of a group of preservationists dedicated to saving and restoring Wright’s Home & Studio in Oak Park.
“I met Don the first day I ever got involved with the Home & Studio,” said Jack Lesniak, architect and longtime FLW Trust volunteer. “Don was already involved. He knew a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright, and when he approached the first group of volunteers, they grabbed him with open ar ms.”
Working alongside architects John Thorpe, Bill Dring and Carl Hunter, Kalec developed a master plan that was used as a guide to restore the Home & Studio. The book was adopted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a model for other restoration programs across the country.
In an email recalling his time working alongside Kalec, Dring called him a quiet and modest man, who had “a strong determination to get the project finished and finish it right.”
Dring recounts a moment in the restoration when they were focused on the dining room -- the first major restoration project, which would set a precedent for the rest of their work. The Wright-designed furniture was a key part of the room’s design, and the group considered having reproductions of the high-backed chairs commissioned Kalec remembered that the original chairs were stored in an outbuilding at Taliesin in Wisconsin and suggested contacting Wright’s widow, Olgivanna, about them. Dring says Kalec drafted a letter to the architect’s widow, and to their surprise, she agreed to donate the chairs.
“She was jealous of any group that tried to take part of FLW’s le gacy,” Dring wrote “Plus, the value of the chairs was very high -- possibly $500,000. The gift was unprecedented. This could not have happened without Don.”
Lesniak states that after much deliberation, Kalec and the early founders decided to return the Home & Studio to what it looked like in 1909, the last year that Frank Lloyd Wright lived and worked in there.
While Kalec was one of the major players involved in making decisions and drafting drawings of the restoration, Lesniak says the quiet man who smiled a lot wasn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and do dirty
work either
“There was a group of volunteers called the Saturday Strippers, who would go in on weekends and touch up the walls and try to determine the original paint colors. Don was often part of that group doing the hands-on demolition or investigation,” Lesniak recalled.
Kalec became the director of research and restoration for the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and worked to undo many of the changes that had been made be later owners to Wright’s early design.
Several small apartments were deconverted to accurately recreate Wright’s studio. The studio restoration gar nered a National Merit Award in 1987 from the American Institute of Architects
At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kalec helped develop the interior architecture program and also developed a graduate curriculum for the Master of Science de gree in historic preservation.
Although he retired from the School of the Art Institute in 2012 and assumed professor emeritus status, Kalec continued to teach through the 2018-19 academic year Kalec lived much of his adult life in Chicago, just over the border from Oak Park He died near his family in F lorida on May 26, 2023.
