Out Now Inc

Since 1995, Out Now has been the only LGBTQ youth organization in Springfield.

Out Now is a youth-led, adult-advised, queer youth organization that works to promote harm reduction, self-determination, and community-building through anti-oppression organizing. 

What started as a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender youth support group in a church basement almost 20 years ago has blossomed into a powerful, inspiring grassroots community non-profit organization with its own office.  As we write this, our programming includes:

1) Social support/popular education: Groups meet each Wednesday (about 25 youth each week).

2) Queer Empowerment Through Solidarity and Truth (QuEST): QuEST is the political arm of Out Now.  QuEST members are community organizers who are working in and around our community for racial, economic and social justice. QuEST meets each Thursday.

3) Our Liberation! Using Interactive Theater to Untagle Oppressions: Is an adaptable Theater of the Oppressed workshop we take to the community where we present a variety of scenerios that show oppressive incidences (based upon our own life experiences).  We then involve the audience spectators to become spect-actors, volunteering to take the place of the oppressed actors in the skits and acting out a different ending to the scene. This is done over and over until the whole gorup feels satisfied enough with the outcome.

Theater of the Oppressed was created by Augusto Boal and seeks to motivate people, restore true dialogue, and create space for participants to rehearse taking action. It begins with the idea that everyone has the capacity to act in the “theater” of their own lives. Boal called Theater of the Oppressed rehearsal for revolution!

4) Annual National Coming-Out Day Soiree: Out Now’s annual National Coming-Out Day Soiree amplifies community pride, promotes queer artistic expression, and connects to our vibrant and defiant history. Youth lead in all aspects of organizing this event, and weekly popular education is a central aspect of this project.  The Soiree is a place where performers and audience can play, experiment, and explore with gender and experience a safe and fun night of community entertainment.

5) VolOUTteers:  Out Now staff meets weekly with a group of volunteers that work on an array of projects. Our VolOUTeers are from all over Western Mass, primarily (but not exclusively) with a university background. The work we do with them is reciprocal in that it meets the needs of our youth and organization, but also the volunteers have an opportunity to work on projects that are relevant to their personal and professional growth. Projects range from media productions, research reports, collecting and creating resource materials, collaborating with our youth on community projects, and MORE.

More about us: We are aware of the purposeful systems of oppression used to criminalize youth, and, in particular queer youth of color, all of which prevent young queer people from realizing their potential and influencing the future.  At Out Now, youth are centralized in the planning and programming of the organization.  Adult/youth relationships coexist, are valued, and the focus is on developing an organization that respects and encourages youth to be critical thinkers who share a commitment to building justice. 

While 18-year-olds cannot legally purchase alcohol, they can join the military and fight wars that they have little power to influence.  Queer youth are at higher risk of being abused based upon their sexuality and/or gender identity and have been thrown out of their homes by family, or run away in order to be safe. Much of the time youth are unaware of their rights and are isolated from others like themselves. 

We will continue to strengthen our leadership pipeline that works as an alternative to the school-to-prison pipeline that queer youth in our city face. In all of our work we make hard, honest attempts to see the whole of who we are and to address issues with an intersectional analysis toward understanding and resisting oppression.  We regularly reflect on our learning, and are united in our struggle to break through isolation, improve the ways we think and feel about each other and ourselves, and work together towards building a movement for justice and liberation.