The Oak Park area’s pioneering local lesbian and gay association, OPALGA+, has sparked conversation within its community as the organization moves in the direction of rebranding. OPALGA+ has long been known for welcoming members of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, hosting monthly potlucks in members’ homes along with its scholarship program and advocacy efforts.
For decades, the organization existed under names explicitly centered around lesbian and gay community members, giving many people a safe space to gather and connect. But as language, identity and allyship have evolved, some members began asking whether the organization’s name still reflected the broader community they wanted to represent.
The organization is now rebranding into “Out With Purpose,” with the intention of encouraging more people, including those who are not LGBTQ+, to feel welcomed into the community. For many members, the rebrand is not about abandoning history, but widening the circle and ensuring the organization remains welcoming and relevant for future generations.
“There has been some pushback from our members,” said Cas Scaman, co-chair of OPALGA. “Change is always going to be a little bit difficult, but we’ve felt a lot of support from a lot of our original and new members.”
Some longtime members had emotional attachments to the original name and expressed concerns about OPALGA turning into something that no longer aligns with the organization’s more than 35 years of identity and history.
“We’ve changed a lot just in the past few years,” said Scaman, “and we’re really trying to make sure that we’re becoming even more inclusive, but we don’t want to become something that’s unrecognizable.”
Leaders of the organization said they are looking to create solidarity across identities, while making people who may have previously felt excluded by the older terminology feel welcomed. They also noted that some people were unsure whether they would fit directly into the organization’s model. With the changes in openness, OPALGA has already started seeing a positive response and an increase in new members.
“People are becoming members or starting to come to events for the first time because they feel more welcome with the new name,” Scaman said.
Co-chair Lynn Griffith said the rebrand is intended to better reflect the broad spectrum of identities represented within today’s LGBTQ+ community.
“It only becomes a community when you actually know people in real life, when you actually connect with them, care about them and help them through things.” Griffith said.
Alongside its transition into “Out With Purpose,” the organization also plans to maintain its scholarship program. The program started in 2014 and has awarded $348,000 to students. Most recently, the organization voted to award $65,000 in scholarships to 13 students through $5,000 awards. The scholarships support students attending trade schools, two-year colleges, and four-year universities, and are open to allies as well as LGBTQ+ students.
Leaders said the scholarship program reflects the organization’s broader goal of investing in future generations while maintaining the sense of community that has defined the group for decades. In addition to scholarship recipients, the organization includes members ranging from teenagers to individuals in their 80s and 90s, including some founding members who remain active today.
“Our mission is pretty simple,” Scaman said. “We want to build connections and community among LGBTQIA+ individuals and their allies.”