News

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...

Dear OUTWORDS friends,
We wish you comfort, safety, sustenance and peace during this very challenging time.

Here at OUTWORDS, we have been struck in recent weeks with the importance of the mission that has been entrusted to us. LGBTQ+ elders, the pioneers of our extraordinary civil rights movement, are among those most acutely threatened by the coronavirus crisis. We want to take this opportunity to send them a special greeting of honor, love, and gratitude.

One day, the history of the...

Dear OUTWORDS friends,
It’s a busy time for our American democracy. No matter where we reside on the political map, we can all agree that the heart of our democracy is VOTING. I was heartened to read this news item today, highlighting a successful North Dakota lawsuit to guarantee fair ballot box access for indigenous Americans. Click here, here, and here for organizations doing great work in the voting rights realm, and let’s join forces to guarantee free and fair elections in 2020!...

Dear OUTWORDS friends,

Happy 2020! We hope this year and decade will be filled with love, purpose, and peace.

To be sure, these are complex times we live in; but the mission of OUTWORDS remains clear: to record, preserve and disseminate the invaluable stories of LGBTQ+ pioneers and elders, while we still have time. These stories are both deeply inspiring, and an essential bulwark against any attempt to erase our history. We are so grateful for your support for this work!

As...