Essential 'Coming Out Kit' Raises Awareness of LGBTIQ+ Homelessness
You might think coming out is a cause for celebration, but you won't find any glitter or champagne in the backpack created by AMV BBDO for The Outside Project.
Amidst the glitter bombs, rainbow flags and party atmosphere of Pride this month, it's easy to forget that for some, coming out is not always such a joyful experience.
Declaring your true self to friends and family can leave you feeling isolated, unsupported, rejected, and in the very worst cases, without a roof over your head.
With one in four homeless people in the UK identifying as LGBTIQ+, The Outside Project teamed up with AMV BBDO to draw attention to a little-discussed problem that often goes unnoticed.
The result was The Coming Out Kit, a backpack containing everything an LGBTIQ+ person might need after coming out.
Unlike the celebratory contents you might expect, though - champagne, glitter, party poppers - the rainbow-emblazoned backpack instead is stuffed with essential items for surviving life on the street: a sleeping bag, a woolly hat, and warm socks. Each item bears a quote from an LGBTIQ+ person telling their story.
As part of the campaign, the agency took to the streets of London during Pride weekend with the kit, and captured visitors' reactions in the video below.
“Pride London has come and gone, but not everyone could go home afterwards," said Gina Kelly and Olga Pope, the creatives behind the project. "As well as celebrating the achievements of the movement, we need to acknowledge that too many people still end up on the street just for being who they are.”
The Coming Out Kit was launched to generate support before the opening of the UK's first crisis shelter and community centre for vulnerable LGBTIQ+ people.
Set up by The Outside Project in partnership with Stonewall Housing and funded by the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Innovation Fund, the centre will offer support at all hours for those who need it most: people who feel endangered, who are homeless and are affected by the lack of LGBTIQ+ appropriate refuge and shelter accommodation across London. The community centre will also host pop-up businesses and services and a co-working space.
For more information, visit The Coming Out Kit.
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