Welcome to your LGBTQ+ Centre

Photo by Anna Mello

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves…

Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre is coming out again this Pride!

At Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre, we've been proudly serving our community for more than 27 years, working to improve the quality of life for LGBTQ+ people. Throughout that time, there have been many challenges, but we've seen incredible progress and change within our community, and we have continued to evolve alongside it.

We might seem unassuming from the outside, but within our walls, we have some big ambitions. At Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre, our vision is a future where LGBTQ+ people are safe, seen, and celebrated. It is our mission to make that vision a reality.

We launched our five-year strategic plan, Space for All, last year, setting us on the path towards becoming a world-class LGBTQ+ centre. This Pride, we're thrilled to reintroduce ourselves with a new brand identity that truly represents Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre and our commitment to the community across the past, present, and future.

Our new identity is more than just a logo; it's a reflection of who we are and what we stand for. Many in the LGBTQ+ community have known us for years, but there are many more who don’t know who we are or what they will find when they walk through our door. We want people to see Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre and know that it is a space for them.

Who we are:

Outhouse is a space for LGBTQ+ people to connect with one another, with their community, and with themselves. We are a space for support, a space to feel safe, a space to be understood. And we are a space for hope. We advocate for and amplify the voices of our community, working to strengthen the movement and promote equity and justice for all LGBTQ+ people.

What can you find at Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre?

Outhouse is a community centre where you are always welcome. We provide a safe and inviting space for LGBTQ+ people to come together, connect, and find support and understanding. We are the heartbeat of the queer community, offering vital programmes and services, including social groups, support services, cultural events, and much more.

Get involved and connect with the community:

There is a certain kind of magic that unlocks when our community comes together. Find your people at one of our social groups, attend the various community activities that happen throughout the week, experience LGBTQ+ culture at our events, stop by our LGBTQ+ library to relax and unwind, or simply drop into our community café which is proudly open to all!

Access support and get the help you need:

Navigating life as an LGBTQ+ person can present some unique challenges, and it can often be difficult to find support that’s right for you. At Outhouse, you can build meaningful connections in our peer support groups, get one-to-one support if you are experiencing difficulties, build resilience and explore your identity through our personal development courses, or access sexual health and wellbeing support, addiction support services, and other information and resources in a safe and understanding environment.

Advocate and campaign for the LGBTQ+ community:

We have a long history as a hub for LGBTQ+ activism and advocacy. Whether you get involved in our campaigns directly, or work with the many incredible community groups and activists that meet in our centre, you can help create equity and justice for all LGBTQ+ people. We actively engage in many issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community, and we are particularly focused on the areas of safety, poverty, housing and homelessness, and climate change, and their impact on the lived experience of LGBTQ+ people.

We are your local hangout spot, your shoulder to lean on, your biggest champion, and your tireless advocate. We are your LGBT Q+ centre.

Looking to the future:

The evolution of our identity is the start of an exciting new chapter for Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre. We’re excited to use this as an opportunity to welcome more people into the centre. We have been expanding our programmes and services to better meet the needs of the community, and we have some amazing things lined up!

We’ve just launched two new social groups for asexual and aromantic people and for LGBTQ+ families, we have new peer-support groups for LGBTQ+ young adults and for intersex people, and we have a whole host of exciting events happening for the month of Pride! We are planning to make the ground floor and basement of the centre universally accessible, and will continue to engage with the community to help us get our plans right and ensure that your centre will be open to all in the future. And finally, we have recently launched our one-to-one community casework service for LGBTQ+ people experiencing difficulties. Our case management team will work with them to identify their specific needs and develop an individualised care plan to help to achieve their goals. This is just a snapshot of what’s to comewe have many more plans on the way.

As we look to the future for Outhouse, we invite you to join us in celebrating our new brand identity and everything it represents. Together, we will continue to create a safe and welcoming space for all members of the LGBTQ+ community, united in our diversity and unwavering in our commitment to equity and inclusion.

Welcome to the next chapter of Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre. Welcome to your LGBTQ+ centre.

ABOUT OUR NEW IDENTITY:

We wanted to create a visual language that celebrates the individual strands within the LGBTQ+ community while also emphasising the strength that comes from our collective unity. The symbol in our new logo resembles the threads in a quilt, each essential and interconnected, coming together to form a supportive and nurturing environment at Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre.

The interlocking strands represent the feeling of embrace and support, the outward rings symbolise acceptance and celebration, and the circle encompassing it all represents Outhouse and our community as a space for all, where everyone is safe, seen, and celebrated.

By using two different fonts, we want to honour both our rich history and our progressive vision for the future. Our colours take loose inspiration from the Progress Pride flag, without being overly-prescriptive. Where we can, we will use photography to showcase genuine moments with our patrons, our centre, and our community.

Every decision —from colour, to photography, to typography, and more— came from a desire to make our identity more accessible, more representative, and more recognisable to everyone in our community. You’ll see the new design roll out across our communications throughout the Pride season. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do!