About Us

Our Mission

Out in the Open connects rural LGBTQ+ people to build community, visibility, knowledge and power.

We are a multiracial, majority working class, grassroots, movement and capacity building organization based in Wabanaki territory throughout the states of Vermont and Maine.

What we mean when we say “LGBTQ+”

Such a long-standing conversation in our community! We use “LGBTQ+” to describe our community in an expansive way that includes those who are Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Same Gender Loving, Asexual, Pansexual, Ceterosexual, Genderqueer, Nonbinary, Agender, Bigender, and many more words to describe our sexualities and identities that we’re yet to speak into being!

As with all of our work, we are not interested in policing each other’s identities or in re-creating systems of oppression. Based on what we’ve shared here, if you think our events & gatherings are for you, they probably are! When in doubt, feel free to reach out :)

Our Vision

We envision a resilient community of communities that works toward the transformation of our economic, social, and political relationships.

We are building a multi-issue multiracial social justice movement of rural LGBTQ+ people.

Our Values

Rural can be queer:
Rural places are and should be welcoming homes to people of all genders, identities, and orientations. We believe in building, renewing, and supporting rural LGBTQ+ people, and in prioritizing those voices.

Intersections:
Out in the Open understands that LGBTQ+ people bring multiple identities to all they do, and honors all aspects of people’s whole selves.

Celebrating resistance:
We inherit a tradition of radical people making radical change in their communities and the wider world, and strive to honor them through our work as part of that tradition.

Connections:
We believe that all people and the environment have needs that must be met, and actively seek solidarity and collaborations with other organizations and individuals working toward justice.

Anti-racism:
Working within the specific political context of Northern New England, Out in the Open strives to be an anti-racist organization. We believe that white people need to work alongside people of color toward ending white supremacy.

Joy:
Our work must be joyful, fun, and empowering.

Staff

Grace Johnston-Fennell

POWER & BELONGING PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Grace Johnston-Fennell (they/she) has roots in southern New England, Western MA, FLX, and is currently located in northern midcoast Maine on unceded Wabanaki land. Grace began working with OITO in 2015 as a volunteer to plan and host annual summits, and joined as a staff member in 2022.
HB Lozito

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
HB (they/them) has spent the past 20+ years organizing in the rural LGBTQ+ community. In many and varied roles, HB has marched on the Maine State House as a queer high school student, organized with Camp Trans, and produced many community events as the co-founder of the HomoPromo Event Collective.
They are a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program, a Better Selves Fellow, a former Lost River Racial Justice Nucleus member, and an alum of Marlboro College's Nonprofit Board Fellowship Program and Nonprofit Management certificate program. HB is a Board Member of Vermont Public, the organization formed by the 2021 merger of Vermont Public Radio & Vermont Public Television. In 2022, they were one of The Advocate’s “50 Champions of Pride.” HB is the recipient of the 2023 Con Hogan Award for Creative, Entrepreneurial, and Community Leadership.
HB also loves laughing, playing cribbage, carving wooden spoons, growing and eating food, and finding blue sea glass.
Jake McBride

COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
A queer, multiracial person of color, Jake (he/him/his) has applied his personal experience and passion for community organizing to a variety of roles. Since moving to Vermont, he has guided youth through mental health struggles at True North Wilderness Program, done custom carpentry in the NEK, worked to grow BIPOC community networks, and organized for a fair, equitable, and racially diverse rural Vermont with the Vermont Releaf Collective.
Prior to living in Vermont, Jake worked on cultural festivals in Louisiana, facilitated virtual racial equity workshops in Massachusetts, and restored classic automotive parts at a hot rod shop in Connecticut. In his free time, Jake can be found folk dancing with friends, working on his truck, playing pond hockey, hiking, and engaging with other queer car enthusiasts.
SJ Muratori

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
SJ (she/hers) has been gnawing away at white supremacist heteropatriarchy since she was a little kid in Cleveland, OH. Her career has focused on supporting marginalized students and staff as a teacher, artist, advocate, advisor, and administrator. In her personal life, SJ prioritizes helping people develop healing strategies around their mental health, trauma, and addiction struggles.
SJ holds a BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art and an MFA from Tyler School of Art. In both programs, she focused on art as a social practice and tool for liberation. She later earned an MDiv at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, cultivating hope and healing by studying queer, feminist, and black liberation ethics and theology and working with The Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice. SJ moved to Vermont in 2012 to work at Marlboro College. She has also worked at Landmark College, run a home/remote school for two, and frolicked with 5/6 graders at Marlboro Elementary School.
SJ lives in southern VT with her rad kid, their two cats, and cat-dog. She loves swimming, playing board games, cooking (sometimes), drawing, tending plants, riding bikes, reading (sometimes), watching schlock, and napping. She goes by Sara Jane too; just never Sara, please.
jas wheeler

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
jas (she/her) is an ohio born & raised survivor/advocate/organizer with a decade of experience providing advocacy and direct services to survivors of sexual violence & young people. she’s had a few food industry detours–baking bagels in the early morning and coordinating a food program within a rural childcare setting.
outside of her paid work, jas has been an organizer within the vermont Black wealth redistribution project and the woven collective. initially joining OITO as a community organizer, she is thrilled to have transitioned into development & resource mobilization work.
jas’ work and life is grounded in her desire to be in right/just/accountable relationship with community and ancestors and is guided by her lived experience as a Black lesbian & chicana.
jas lives in rural maine with her wife & son.