HAPPY
COMING OUT
DAY

Bret, for the ones outside of the U.S.  – What is The OUT Foundation? When were you founded and why?

Bret: The OUT Foundation is now 12 years old. We were founded in New York City (NYC], initially as a social group for LGBTQIA2+ CrossFitters. As that grew in popularity, our founder started to widen the net and make it more and more inclusive to different parts of the LGBTQIA2+ community and focus on fundraising for different causes in the community.

The foundation has grown from being a workout based social organization to a nonprofit providing programs like OUTHealth, OUTAthletics, our Inclusive Fitness Finde, OUTAthlete, and soon EDIT.

The OUTHealth program supports our mission by removing the barriers that block the LGBTQ+ community from living as their true, authentic selves and living healthier lives. We partner with organizations and individuals to provide health education to our community through various initiatives. OUTHealth provides those marginalized in our community with the ability to feel comfortable in and celebrate their bodies and minds. Through OUTHealth, we are giving wellness tips across all of our social platforms. We’re growing this program out with a few things next year.

We want to provide the tools for folks to find those inclusive spaces to work out. But also our audiences are those gyms who are possibly interested in becoming more inclusive themselves. That is where our OUTAthletics events, OUTAthlete, Inclusive Fitness Finder, and our upcoming EDIT programs come in.

Through OUTAthletics we partner with gyms across the US to host inclusive workouts and celebrate our community year-round. Gyms who support our work through the year and attest to meeting specific inclusive guidelines can find their way onto our Inclusive Fitness Finder, which allows folks all around the country to find inclusive gyms in, or at least near, their communities. And EDIT will focus on  direct education – helping gym owners and staff learn more about what it means to be inclusive. We want to make sure that people are using the right terminology and making sure their spaces don’t exclude or offend anyone from our community with dated terms and exclusionary language. And our OUTAthlete program focuses on a select group of young athletes from our community.

How many gyms are registered on your website for being inclusive? 

Bret: We have over 200 gym partners nationwide that we work with to make sure that they’re up to date and are inclusionary in their practices.

Why is Coming Out Day so important to your foundation in 2022?

Bret: It’s multifaceted. Some may argue that we’ve moved into a phase where coming out is not as important as it was maybe ten years ago –  but at The OUT Foundation, we disagree with that. Studies show, when someone knows someone who identifies as a part of the LGBTQIA2+ community, they are more likely to support our causes for equality. They’re more likely to vote in our favor. By coming out to your family members and your friends, you are placing a face with the community and are making it a more personal cause for those folks. On the other side of that, it’s important within the community as well. Our stories are all very, very powerful. Each of us has our own unique coming out story, and by sharing it with each other and with others outside of our community, we motivate and inspire people to be true to themselves. It’s more important now than ever for us to tell those stories, to come out, be our true selves, and inspire others to do the same. We also know that not everyone is safe or able to come out, and we are here to support them too.

Can you talk us through – What is the OUTAthlete program?

Bret: Absolutely! OUTAthlete is possibly my favorite program of ours. We get to spend a whole year or more with these athletes, seeing the direct impact of the program. 

The OUTAthlete program facilitates a year-long gym memberships for select LGBTQIA2+ young adults between the ages of 18-30 nationwide. The program has helped over 50 athletes in 32 cities. But, it is so much more than just a free year-long membership to a local inclusive gym; OUTAthletes also benefit from a networking group of current and former OUTAthletes, nutrition coaching, mental health support, monthly educational sessions, and more. 

PUMA is one of the main sponsors of our OUTAthlete  program – honestly PUMA is one of our biggest supporters for all of the work we do. We absolutely would not be where we are today, reaching as many people across the country as we do without PUMA’s support. The partnership is so important to us because those athletes really feel seen by an organisation like PUMA, which is globally renowned. It really means a lot to them and to our entire organization.