Share This Campaign:
Our Story
We are Jenni and Lisa, and in July we leave our San Francisco home to travel the world for a year in search of gay people who are creating change for the LGBTQ community. Our project, Out and Around: Stories of a Not-So-Straight Journey, is a collection of our conversations with these "Supergays" around the world.
We have launched a multi-media website (www.OutandAround.com) to chronicle our stories. We interview these extraordinary individuals and tell their stories through articles, photos and videos. These "Supergays" are people like John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, a lawyer couple who tirelessly campaigns for marriage equality, Maria Caruana, a pastor whose mission it is to reach gay people who have been hurt by the church, and Andre Haddad, a top executive who uses his influence to advocate for gay rights. We also share our own experience of what its like to travel as a lesbian couple in places that aren't exactly gay-friendly or even gay-aware.
Our trip will cover 15 countries across Asia, Africa, and South America. We chose them because these are places where the LGBTQ movement is just starting to take shape, and we want to tell the stories of the people there who are leading the charge.
The Impact
We believe we're at a pivotal point for gay rights in the world. Significant change has been made for gays in terms of civil rights and societal acceptance. To think that 10 years ago, there was not a country on this planet where we could get legally married as a lesbian couple. Now, 10 countries have legalized same-sex marriages.
Nontheless, more progress must be made. Gay youth still get bullied everyday, gays everywhere still face a tremendous amount of homophobia, and gay rights still don't exist in much of the developing world.
With our project, we can change this. The LGBTQ community desperately lacks role models and by telling the stories of the "Supergays," we hope to inspire gay youth by showing them examples of successful gay people around the world. We also hope to decrease homophobia by showing that gay people exist and thrive in all walks of life and that gays have made immense contributions to society. Lastly, we hope to shed light on the struggles of gay people in the developing world and raise support to fight for their rights.
Our goal is to conduct 50 interviews throughout 15 countries, reach 10,000 active readers for our website, and culminate this project with an educational documentary-style video that features highlights from our interviews. When we return home, we will take this video on a roadshow to community groups, schools, and churches to share our experience and reach more people with our message of hope.
What We Need & What You Get
We need to raise $6,000 for this project. Our travel expenses for the trip will be covered by our personal savings. The $6,000 will go to:
- Website costs: Development, design and hosting of www.OutandAround.com
- Marketing costs: Online and offline advertising costs
- Production gear: Video and audio equipment for recording of interviews
- Video production: Hiring of video editor and rental of production facilities
As a token of our gratitude, we are offering rewards in the form of shout outs on our website and Facebook wall, postcards from our travels, sponsor credits in our documentary video, t-shirts, personalized video messages, and an invitation to dinner at our home in San Francisco upon our return.
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| From Out and Around photos |
Other Ways You Can HelpWe could use your help to get the word out about our project. Please post a link to www.OutandAround.com on your Facebook page or forward this Indiegogo link to your network. We are also looking for LGBTQ connections in the countries we are visiting, so please email us at jenniandlisa@outandaround.com if you know anyone who you think it'd be helpful for us to meet in Asia, Africa and S. America. Lastly, we are paying for trip expenses out of pocket, so we could use some help with cutting down those expenses as much as possible. If you have any connections with accommodations and airline services, or if you know of any places where we could stay in the countries we are visiting, we would be incredibly grateful. Responses We've ReceivedIt's awesome to experience and see what is going on around the world with the community and to see common threads within humanity. - Todd
You don't know me, but I came across your page and this feedback you left about your journey with your parents and your coming out. I was with someone for three years who could never tell her parents about us and struggled with this transition. You and Lisa are a true inspiration to our community! Good luck! - Jacque
This is a great reminder that our personal stories can really make a difference! Tell your story today -- it's the single best way to change hearts and minds. - Grassroots Activist
I so appreciate your practical financial approach to living your dream! Thanks for painting a bit more on this canvas of life so that I may see other supportive and not so scary ways to live the dream life! Way to go. - Kristie
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