News

Dear OUTWORDS friends,

One week from today, December 1, is #GivingTuesday, a global day of generosity. We’re proud to serve you by preserving LGBTQ+ history, one interview at a time, and hope you will keep us in mind during this celebration of giving.

In particular, we would like to highlight the option to become a sustaining supporter, by signing up for a recurring donation. Recurring donations are exponentially more valuable to us, as they help us predict cash flow from month to month, and...

Dear OUTWORDS community,

In our June 2, 2020 newsletter, I stated my conviction that both I and OUTWORDS can and must engage in a deep, thoughtful, and sustainable process of reflection on how White supremacy functions in the lives of people and organizations. I urged myself and other...

Dear OUTWORDS community,

We hope, as always, that you and yours are as safe and well as is possible right now.

Election Day is exactly four weeks from today. Like most people, we have lots of opinions about particular candidates; but our strongest opinion is that more voters = better democracy. To that end, we share two resources:

Rideshare2Vote connects voters with rides to the polls and works to increase turnout; visit their website to request a ride or to volunteer in a number of ways.
When...

Dear OUTWORDS friends,

This Thursday, we are hosting a webinar panel discussion on the evolution of music in the LGBTQ+ community.

"Music And Queer Healing"

Thursday, August 20

5pm Pacific Time

Register for the event here: bit.ly/lgbtqmusic

DJ Skype Williams, Chris Freeman of Pansy Division, and OUTWORDS interviewee and drag queen Donna Sachet will join us for a Q&A panel moderated by Axel Rivera-De Leon.

Our community is one of lovers, fighters, and creators, and the music in our culture...

Dear OUTWORDS friends,

As always, we hope that you and yours are doing as well as can be expected right now. We’ve been making some changes here at OUTWORDS, and wanted to share some of our process with you.

But first, I want to share a quote from the posthumous editorial of civil rights legend John Lewis, who died this past July 17th. In his editorial, John Lewis wrote, “You must study and learn the lessons of history, because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching existential...

Dear OUTWORDS community,

Pride month is more than halfway over and it’s been quite a ride. Amidst all the turmoil and urgent issues requiring immediate (as well as enduring) attention, we hope you are also experiencing moments of peace, joy, and celebration.

OUTWORDS has another event coming up and we’d love to invite you to be part of it. In partnership with Microsoft, we are presenting an online panel on Wednesday June 24 @ 5pm PT / 8pm ET called PRIDE, PANDEMIC, AND RACIAL JUSTICE IN...

Dear OUTWORDS community,

I’m proud to announce that OUTWORDS is hosting a truly exciting, thought-provoking, and inspiring online event tomorrow, Wednesday June 17, at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. It’s called Return to Resistance: Pride, Intersectionality, and Racial Justice in 2020.

We’ve put together a panel of four extraordinary OUTWORDS interviews from around the country, including transgender pioneer Miss Major Griffin-Gracy; community mental health activist Marianne Diaz; HIV/AIDS educator...

Dear OUTWORDS Family and Supporters,

It’s sometimes hard to know where to start. The last few weeks have been a powerful brew of anger, grief, determination – and hope. Is our nation ready to finally confront our racial sins and wounds? Only time (and our own levels of individual commitment) will tell.

In the meantime, it’s Pride Month. To me, the timing is actually good, offering the opportunity to ask, what does Pride mean right now? In its infancy, the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement was...

Dear OUTWORDS Family,

Yesterday was the first day of what is traditionally called Pride Month. But here at OUTWORDS, we spent the day grappling with how to respond as LGBTQ+ people of conscience to the latest manifestations of our nation’s systemic violence against Black lives. And here in my own heart, I am grappling with how to respond from a place of accountability—to acknowledge publicly and unequivocally that as a white American, I am complicit in and have benefitted from the...

Dear OUTWORDS community,
I hope you and yours are faring well. It’s a tough time, isn’t it? Maybe like a lot of you, I have good days and really not good days. I want to share one message I found encouraging recently. Perhaps it’ll be helpful to you.

Two months ago, before the days of COVID, I hired two new part-time OUTWORDS team members. When COVID hit, I was very worried I would have to turn around and let them go. But so far, thanks to you and other generous donors, we have been able...