New secondhand boutique in Rockford focuses on welcoming space, gender-affirming clothing

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A nonprofit that works to empower and encourage the local LGBTQ+ community is launching a new secondhand boutique designed to give people a welcoming place to find a wardrobe that suits them.

The LIAM Foundation will hold the grand opening of LIAM’s Boutique Secondhand Pride at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The free shop is on the basement floor of the center at 1005 Fifth Ave. in the city’s Midtown.

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It provides a supportive space for trans people who may be shopping for the first time since transitioning, said Phyllis Gallisath, founder and executive director of The LIAM Foundation.

“All those firsts that happen: the first time that you go shopping out in public in a dressing room, that can take some time,” Gallisath said. “This is a place inbetween that people can go. They can try things on in the dressing room, they can feel comfortable. They can take stuff home and if it doesn’t fit they can bring it back. …

“It’s a more affirming environment where they don’t have to deal with the outside pressures that can be stressful or discriminatory even.”

The boutique offers a variety of clothing options from casual to business attire. There’s also makeup, hygiene products, harm reduction items such as Narcan, safe sex products and gender-affirming items such as binders and tuck underwear.

Some items are donated by people who have transitioned and want to pass on their old clothing to someone who may need it, said Lori Lee, vice president of Rockton Pride, which helped The LIAM Foundation setup the boutique.

“A person came in for a name change and they came downstairs with the last box of their clothes of who they used to be. They told me their story and I was crying,” Lee said. “This is the old me, but I want someone to have this part of me.”

Finding gender-affirming clothing can be difficult, and stocking the boutique in part with donations was another way for LGBTQ people to support one another, Gallisath said.

“Queer people are helping each other. They get to donate something to somebody else that’s going to be important to them,” she said. “They get to feel that give-and-take and supporting of each other as a community.”

The LIAM Foundation was created to honor Gallisath’s son, Liam, who came out to her as transgender in 2015. He died by suicide in 2018 about two weeks before he would have graduated high school. The nonprofit was formed in 2020.

The name of the organization, LIAM, is in honor of his name and an acronym the nonprofit’s values of Love, Integrity, Advocacy and Mentorship.

If you go | Liam’s Boutique Secondhand Pride

Grand opening: 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25

Where: 1005 Fifth Ave., Rockford

Drop-in hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Info: theliamfoundation.org

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas