gaim-e

[Eric Krause]

>  There is also beecrypt and mcrypt but openssl is
> problematic due to the license incompatibilities (I assume gaim-e is
> GPLed).

Yes, I had heard about the license issues, which is why I didn't really look into it to deeply before.  Yes, gaim-e is GPL'd.  I've looked into libgcrypt, so I think that is what I will work towards. 
Thanks again. 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim-e/

peace
emk