Project: OUT Encourages Openness

By: Stacey Axler

Over 60 Hood students and faculty members came out on Oct. 13 to support Project: OUT, a mission created by a Hood graduate student that offers an outlet for the LGBT community.

Project: OUT, created last semester by Hood graduate student Charity Smith, allows members of the LGBT community to write coming out letters in an anonymous fashion to whomever they want, and send it to aFrederickpost office box as a safe way of personal expression.

“Project: OUT is where people can anonymously come out,” Lindsay Cogdill, president of Equal Sex, said. “I’m really grateful to Charity for doing what she did and I feel honored that I was able to be a part of it.”

The main event of Project: OUT was open to the Hood community and occurred on the evening of Oct. 13 in Hodson Auditorium in Rosenstock Hall.

“The event was very moving,” senior Molly Poling said. “I love that Hood provides good outlet for these programs so people can experience and learn new things.”

At the event, members of Hood’s T.E.A. (Tolerance, Acceptance, Equality) and Equal Sex groups worked together to present the letters mailed to Project: OUT to the Hood community in creative ways, such as through presentation and slide show format. Members of both T.E.A. and Equal Sex read a variety of submissions out loud, which ranged from uplifting to very emotional.

“I came to Project: OUT because I am the outreach coordinator for T.E.A. and I wanted to support my peeps,” sophomore Jackie Frenning said.  “The event was really emotional, and I think we should have provided some tissues.”

The presentation of the original submissions to Project: OUT stirred up a lot of emotions for the audience members in attendance.

“The PowerPoint [presentation of letters] made me bawl,” Poling said. “It was very moving.”

At the end of the event, audience members could write and decorate their own letters in support of Project: OUT, as well as read more original submissions to the project.

Overall, those in attendance to the campus event learned more about the positive affect that Project: OUT has had as an outlet for the LGBT community.

“[Project: OUT] was a really powerful event,” junior Olivia Wolz said. “It shows how words can affect the LGBT community, and how one person can make a difference in the lives of many.”