Amid growing debate on matters of homosexual rights, a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and questioning people created Project OUT, an association with the purpose of providing “emotional support, social support, political activism, awareness and education” to the GLBT community.
Despite the multitude of more personal challenges Project OUT faces, the group’s initial concern is attracting the public’s attention, its founder Jennifer Barry said. Members plan to primarily become involved in the community by participating in community service projects as well as marches for homosexual rights.
Tina Tadgett, an English and creative writing major who graduated from VCU in May, said she supports the idea.
“Spread the positive chi in all different ways,” she said. “Just help the community in general (regardless) of our sexuality.”
Maria Medas, a freshman music major who attended the first Project OUT meeting in July, said she hoped to try “different ways to (tell people) ‘here we are.'”
Organizations such as the VCU Sexual Minority Student Alliance already exist, but Barry said she wanted to create a place that was all-inclusive rather than label-specific.
“All (other) organizations focus on either one identification or one label and not a collective kind of group,” said Barry, a second-year senior majoring in psychology and minoring in women’s studies. “(This is) something new and different…Everyone is represented.”
The acronym for the project’s constituents, she said, includes more than the usual gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual population. For instance, it adds such descriptive words as intersexed and queer to the list.
Project OUT is not affiliated with VCU, and Barry said she wants to draw members from the wider community as well as the university.
“The group belongs to everybody,” she said. “It’s a bunch of people who came together.”
Tadgett stressed the importance of VCU’s student support for the project.
“There are a lot of GLBT students at VCU, and you need to support (them),” she said. “(Project OUT) helps to create a community accepting of all walks of life.”
Ten people attended the group’s first meeting at the 17.5 Uncommon Caf