A dozen or so students sitting in a roughly formed circle chattered away in a Student Center classroom on a Wednesday night, patiently waiting for the real discussion to begin. They are not there for a night class, but for the weekly Act Out meeting- one of the three LGBTQA organizations at DePaul. When the clock strikes 6 p.m. a leader emerges from the chitchat, and introduces the topic of the night.
It is clear that Act Out president Rachel Oyelola, a DePaul junior and women’s and gender studies major, is in her element. There is something about her long limbs, dark complexion and intelligent face that give the impression of greatness hidden beneath a blue DePaul hoodie and a black knit beanie. At the beginning of the meeting, there is a spark in her eyes, and it steadily grows into a deep burning passion as the discussion of the night progresses.
Oyelola is not the president of Act Out by accident. Since high school, she’s been deeply involved in LGBTQA activism. What spurred her initial involvement was seeing the relationship between the oppression she experienced as part of the only African-American family in her neighborhood in Tolland, Conn., and queer oppression.
“The more I learned about it the more I got angry and passionate about it,” said Oyelola. “It’s very easy to bring all my identities into the queer community and bring awareness and activism to all of the issues.”
This passion drove Oyelola to found her conservative high school’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) chapter. When she arrived at DePaul in the fall of 2010, she knew immediately she wanted to get involved with an LGBTQA organization.
“When I was freshman there were three LGBTQA-based groups on campus,” said Oyelola. “I chose Act Out because I knew I was more interested in activism and social work than a social group.”
After attending a few of the first meetings, Oyelola knew that Act Out was the place for her.
“I loved the really captivating discussions that you don’t hear anywhere else about identity,” said Oyelola. “A lot of those conversations don’t happen in social relationships because people feel uncomfortable or don’t know how to navigate the conversations. Act Out was a safe space where I could talk about myself and my identities and my experiences.”
Towards the end of Oyelola’s sophomore year at DePaul, however, she saw Act Out begin to go in a direction she didn’t completely agree with. Oyelola knew the best way she could deal with this situation was to run for president of Act Out.
“There wasn’t a lot of direct advocacy and it got cliquish,” said Oyelola. “I felt like the space wasn’t inclusive. I wanted to bring in other identities to make sure those people had a space, too.”
So far Oyelola is doing her best to refocus Act Out’s efforts within the larger DePaul community.
“She’s able to talk about complex topics and everything surrounding it,” said Amelia Menton, a senior and last year’s Act Out president. “The conversations are often focused on men, and it’s isolating. Rachel is able to open it up to a lot of people, and it’s fun.”
Although Oyelola’s still dealing with many ups and downs within the group, many related to the bureaucracy surrounding student activity funds within DePaul, Oyelola has already led the group in many great strides forward.
Currently, Oyelola is working on a partnership between Act Out and the Broadway Youth Center, which is a drop-in center for homeless LGBTQA youth ages 13 to 24, to get basic necessities, such as hot showers, phones and food.
Additionally, she is looking to do a co-sponsorship with the Black Student Union to bring the director of a film about lesbian women of color to DePaul.
“A co-sponsorship is something that we’ve tried to do in the past, and I’m hoping that this year I’ll be able to work one out,” said Oyelola.
One area where Oyelola strives to succeed is facilitating a safe and open environment in Act Out meetings. The most memorable meeting of the year was one where an international student shared a story about trying to reach out to her uncle, who is gay, despite her very homophobic family.
“It was really moving to hear an international perspective because things like that still happen in America, but it isn’t as common,” said Oyelola. “To share something so personal at her first meeting where she doesn’t know anyone yet is very inspiring.”
In October, Oyelola led one of her favorite discussions so far. The group talked about how October is LGBTQA month and Oct. 11 is “National Coming Out Day.”
“We had a conversation about out coming out stories. It’s interesting how people’s stories differ,” said Oyelola. “The way I went to construct our conversation was to ask if coming out is necessary anymore. It was an interesting way to flip the script on coming out in general.”
Oyelola’s leadership style and strong conversation facilitating skills have given her peers a high opinion of her.
“The best term to describe how I feel about Rachel is impressed,” said Matthew von Nida, a sophomore Act Out executive board member. “She just took the lead and organized things in a very open discussion. I enjoy our conversations. I feel like we can be laughing and then two seconds later turn around and accomplish things.”
As the year goes on Oyelola still has many goals that she wishes to achieve for Act Out, mainly increasing membership and collaborating more with other groups on campus.
But there is still one main goal for Oyelola: “to just to continue to have good conversations.”
