Homecoming of Another Sort

Workshop/adp principal Matthew Berman representing Live Out Loud’s new campaign.

It begins with a strikingly simple question targeting a complex subject: What do you know now that you wish you knew then? Asking people to “Gay It Forward,” the Live Out Loud organization is launching a new public service campaign this fall with the help of Deutsch A. Lowe + Partners and other members of the design community, including Workshop/apd principal Matthew Berman.

The nonprofit Live Out Loud, now celebrating its twelfth year, reaches out to LGBT youth through multiple campaigns. One of its most successful programs has been the Homecoming Project, a movement which asks LGBT adults to return to their high school and share their personal journey with students.

From there, participants in the project are given free range, telling a story but more importantly creating common ground in experiences. Founder and president of Live Out Loud, Leo Preziosi, highlights that the project makes obvious “the importance of showing kids what is possible through adult LGBT role models.”And more often than not, it’s not just the students that leave the experience inspired.

From 15-person club meetings to 1,000-student assemblies, the response has been growing as adults are stepping up to communicate a message of hope and acceptance. They even bring along their friends, family, and partners to offer different perspectives. But it won’t stop there— Preziosi says that he “hopes that the new campaign will awaken the LGBT community to the importance of becoming involved in the lives of LGBT youth.”

For more information on the organization or to become part of the campaign, visit liveoutloud.info .